Crazy Wizard
by p3nguinsradioactive twitchs
Summary: I suppose we all wonder, as one point or another, just what James, Lily, Sirius, and etc. were all like. This shows it. Rating just in case.::Chapter Two! !
1. A Few Witches, Wizards,and an Evil Squid

**Crazy Wizard**

**Chapter 1: A Few Witches, Wizards, and an evil Squid**

            **NOTE: Hi! This is my....uh....well....I forget how many HP FFs I've done but I wasn't serious about those like this one. And those were all about Harry…well except this one fic…but…So really this is my first serious Lily and James fanfiction. It will be confusing in the beginning because I have to jump from one character to another. My chapters are probably going to be around ten thousand words or so, sorry if you like chapters shorter. I am basing this on the information from the fifth book, that obviously Lily hated James. It might be boring in the first few chapters. Later in the fic I'll be quoting from OotP, but that won't be until the fifth year. Also, for the DISCLAIMER, the characters of Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Arabella, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and so on, aren't mine. The characters of mine are Catty, Essence, and some of the professors. Now, why do you ask this fic is called Crazy Wizard? Well it includes evil Voldie and since he's crazy, well yeah. Sorry if it's not a great name, that's just what I thought of. I like reviews, and I don't mind flames. I don't mind much what people think of me, or my fics or anything, but anything you say about my fic I'll take to heart. I would like all the help I can get. I'm not sure how far this fic will go. If I finish it, then it will go on until Harry's seventh year. Yes, HARRY'S. This is probably going to be a long fic, hopefully more than 100k words (^_^). Since the chapters will be so long, I won't be able to update a lot, so only about every month or two. I'm actually going to write three chapters before I post the first chapter on FF.net so the first three chapters will probably be every month. Anyway, I wonder when you're reading this. I'm WRITING this four days before Christmas! ^_^ Ok, well this is long (heh, not compared to the chapter), so I'll stop it. Onto my fic!**

***          *          ***

            "Lily. My dear, _dear_ Lily."

            "Mum. My dear, _dear_ mum."

            Mrs. Evans sighed exasperatingly at her youngest daughter. "Lily. You _have _to eat! You don't get a choice. Even though you're sick, you have to keep your energy up!"

            "But _Mum_. I'm not _hungry_. You're not supposed to _eat _when you're not _hungry_."

            "Lily, you're going to eat no matter what!" She looked at her daughter expectantly. Lily was looking disgustingly at the soup in front of her. 

            "Lily, come _on_. Just one little bi-" But right at that moment, the door burst open and Lily's older sister, Petunia, ran in. Her hair was thoroughly ruffled and she was swinging her arms everywhere, trying to get the white owl away from her. The beautiful owl flew over to a rather shocked Lily and stuck its leg out.           

            "It just comes in and _attacks _me for no reason! The bloody thing even gave me _this_! It _bit_ me! I probably have that _rabbine_ disease or something! Mum! I'm feeling faint! Everything's spinning-"

            "Petunia! Be quiet already! It did not give you rabies honey! It's an _owl_, not a _monster_." Petunia crossed her arms and let out an annoyed breath.  Mrs. Evans shook her head and turned to her daughter. "What is it?"

            "A...A letter. Saying I'm a witch." Lily said, handing the letter to her mum and shrugging.

            "A WITCH? You're a _WITCH_? Ack! You _FREAK_! I _knew _something was wrong with you! I _knew_ it!" Petunia was frozen in the doorway with a look halfway between scared and terrified. Mrs. Evans looked at her daughter as though she was about to say something, but as she read the letter, she looked utterly speechless.

            "I...Well I guess we should go see your Dad..." She said, trailing off as she read the letter through again, and stood up. Lily set her soup aside and got out of bed happily.

            "You know Petunia, you _do _get rabies from bites..." She said to Petunia, who was examining where the owl had nipped her. Her eyes widened and she ran off to the bathroom.

            "Honey? Is that Lily in the shower _again_? I know she's sick but she can't be taking a shower every five minutes with these dry spells lately! It-" 

            "Dad! No, it's Petunia trying to get rid of the rabies." Lily said, after following her mother into the kitchen. Her father had come back home from the office where he worked at. He had a short-sleeved light blue shirt on and he was lightly sweating. The heat had been uncharacteristically hot and miserable. 

            Daniel Evans was a man about 5'11" and had light brown hair, along with amazing green eyes. He was in his mid 40's. 

            His wife of 15 years, Rose Evans, had flaming red hair that was medium length and worked as a nurse at the local hospital. 

            Lily had amazing, red, medium-length hair from her mum and her beautiful green almond-shaped eyes from he dad.

            "Rabies?" He said, raising his eyebrows and getting out two slices of bread

            "An owl bit her." Mrs. Evans replied, getting out a knife for him.

            "An _owl_? There are now _owls_ around? Well, lunch is much more interesting than breakfast. Oh, Lily, did you eat any? You really should try more." He said, getting out the mustard and taking the knife from his wife.

            "Yeah but it's even weirder than you think! The owl was carrying a letter from Hogwarts School of _Witchcraft_ and _Wizardry_! I'm a witch! Can you _believe _that?" Lily said, jumping up and down by the end of it and beaming madly. But her father didn't seem so thrilled. Well, maybe a better word would be _surprised_. He didn't seem surprised at all. 

            "Sorry, but am I the only one who hears me? A witch dad! A _witch_. Someone who does spells and things! Or...Or is this some weird, demented joke for my eleventh birthday?" She didn't seem so happy about it now.

            "Of _course_ I hear you! I just sort of knew about it in advance."  He said, smiling and taking out cheese from the refrigerator.

            "Wait, so this isn't a joke? I'm a real witch? Really? Oh my gosh!! Wait. What do you mean you knew about it in advance?" She asked, giving her mother and her father suspicious looks.

            "Well you see, you're grandmother kind of told us." Her mother said, looking over at her husband.

            "Dreadfully weird woman." He said, taking a bite of his sandwich.

            "How can you say that about your mother?!" Mrs. Evans said, looking accusingly at him.

            "Oh, we're talking about _my_ mum?" He said, winking at Lily. Lily covered her mouth and laughed. Her mother, though, did not find it so funny. She glared at him, but didn't say anything, expecting him to continue.      

            "Oh, yes. Anyway, she was a witch. I suppose the magic skipped me. I can't do anything magical. Mum tried to get me to do it, but I took from my dad's side of the family. All normal. My dad didn't mind Mum being a witch though. I though it kind of weird. Oh, yes. She spent a lot of time with you when you re a baby. She told us that you were a witch because of all the weird things you could do and that if you got sent a letter saying that you got accepted into a wizarding school, let you go. That's why I wasn't all that surprised. She told me it would happen when you were 11. She also told me this 'mentor' person would show up and show you around the wizarding world. Ah, Mum. To bad the sweet old lady had to die." Her father sighed, and took another bite of his sandwich.

            "So...Oh this is SO cool! I can't _wait_. It says that the mentor will show up on August 25th though! Today is August 2nd! Oh how _dreadful_! And school starts _September_ _1st_! Oh _no_! _Ugh_." Lily said, impatiently.

            "Don't worry honey. Since we're going to have to take you out of your school, you'll have freedom! Mum and you can go shopping! You like shopping right? I was never really a 'shopping' kind of guy. Too many bags and too much money spent. But you like shopping so..." But he trailed off as he realized Lily wasn't paying attention.

            "I get to quit that stupid school? YAY!" She was doing a little happy jig.

            "I thought you _liked_ that school honey."

            "Eck, _no_. Who could like something that gives homework _year-round_? Anyway, yeah, let's go shopping Mum! Oh my gosh, I can't believe it!" She was, again, beaming madly and was looking at her mum.

            "Of _course _we'll go shopping. Oh, I can't believe _my _daughter, _my_ Lily, is a witch! Oh you'll have to tell us _everything_ about where you get your books and all, oh this is _so_ exciting!"

            And indeed it was.

***          *          ***

            "Master James," squeaked a small little elf. "Dinner is ready."

            "Thanks Mimi." A boy said and the elf disappeared with a _crack_. The boy had messy black hair and glasses that covered wonderful eyes that resembled melted chocolate. He was beaming and clutching a letter in his hand. He bounced down many flights of stairs to the dining room. His father was away again. A business trip. But his mum was sitting there at the table and smiled as she saw the letter clutched in his small hand.

            "You finally got the Hogwarts letter! Oh I'm so proud!" She got up and gave her only son a long hug before sitting down in front of her plate of food. "When is the mentor getting here? Aren't they doing group mentors this year? I heard that they didn't have enough people to do it one for each person this year."

            "Um...The person is coming on the 25th." He answered, handing the letter to his mum.

            "I think I will just give you the key to our vault okay? I mean, you've never been on those _coaster_ things so I think it'd be fun for you. You'd have to get a few hundred Galleons though okay? I'll let you get that new Cleansweep that's just come out. You aren't old enough for the House Quidditch teams yet but you have been practicing a lot lately and you _are_ getting pretty good, so maybe they can make an exception?" She was beaming at James. He was smiling down into his mashed potatoes.

            Hogwarts was going to be _great_. He was going to be remembered there forever, and he would make sure of it. Maybe he would hold the greatest number of detentions. Or maybe he could pull a _huge_ prank. Sirius would definitely be up for doing _both_ of those though.  

            This _Sirius_ person that James was thinking of was, in fact, talking to _his_ Mum about Hogwarts also.

***          *          ***

            "But _Mum_. I _have_ to go to Hogwarts! James is going and so is _everyone_ else! Who could turn down an invitation to _Hogwarts_? It will be _wonderful_! Oh Mum, I _have_ to go! Come on, please?" Sirius Black finished his mini-speech and looked hopefully at his Mum.

            "Honey, that school has gone down the drain. They are accepting _mudbloods _now!-"

            "Mum! Don't _call_ them that! They are just a bit different! It's not like-"

            "Sirius! What has that Potter family _done _to you? They are _lower _than us! _Lower!_" She shrieked. Well, Sirius' Mum was not for the muggle-borns, to say the least.

            "Mum! No they aren't! They aren't _any_ different actually! Not at _all_!"

            "Yes they are! They are so much-"

            "They are _not_ lower Mum-"

            "-terrible witches and wizards-"

            "-just the same-

            "-shouldn't even-"

            "-nothing wrong-"

            "Natalie! Sirius!" A male voice roared. Sirius and his Mum turned to see Mr. Black in the doorway. He _hated_ yelling. Sirius figured it was because he was sick of his wife yelling at him all the time. Actually, it was kind of funny because the quarter of the time, he was yelling himself.

            He had black hair just liked his two younger sons. Actually, right at that time Regulus Black popped his head in. "Oh, hello Dad, Mum, Sirius. What is going on? I heard yelling..." His sentence trailed off as he looked back and forth from his Mum, Dad, and brother.

            "_Why_ can't you be like sweet Regulus here? He doesn't yell back at me! He thinks that Mudbloods are lower! Why can't-"

            "Don't _call_ them that! And just because _you_ happen to think Muggle-borns are lower, doesn't mean _I_-"

            "YES IT DOES! NOW GET UP TO YOUR ROOM! IF YOU AREN'T CAREFUL YOU WILL SOON BE BLASTED OFF THE FAMILY TREE!" Mr. Black roared.

            "You mean you haven't already? Anyway, the mentor person from Hogwarts is coming the 25th and I'm going whether you like it or not..." He said more, but that was carefully under his breath, so his Mum and Dad couldn't hear him. His Mum glared at his back as he walked up the stairs.

            "I _swear_! That boy needs to learn some things!" Mrs. Black said walking into the kitchen.

            "I agree Mother." Said Regulus, helping her in anyway he could.

            "Oh Regulus. You're the better son, you know. Sirius should be more like you. Start the stew." Regulus nodded and did as he was told

***          *          ***

            "Oh _Mum_! Oh my gosh! I'm a witch! I'm a-" But a decisive _crash _ended her sentence. An 11-year-old girl with shoulder length dirty-blonde hair and beautiful green eyes had just tripped over a rug and had fallen onto the dining room table. She was clutching a letter in her right hand and was carefully pulling her left hand out of what had once been a bowl of potatoes. Now they looked rather mashed.

            "Oh _Mum_. I'm sorry!" She wailed jumping off the table and landing on her cat's tail. "Oh Fin! I'm _sorry_!" This, surprisingly enough, happened every day. The girl, in turn, was very clumsy and ran into everything. If you put her in a four-sided room, she would be able to run into ten _different_ walls.

            "Oh Catty. No, it's rather fine. Now what were you so excited about?" Her Mum said. She had medium black hair and rather blue eyes. She stuck her head in the refrigerator and got out a bowl of carrots. You had to be ready if you lived with Catty Fash.

            "Mum! I got a letter and it says I'm a witch! A _witch_! Mum, a _witch_! I _have_ to call Dad! Where's the phone-"

            "Catty! Wait, he'll be home in just a moment! Now what's this about you being a witch?" Her Mum replaced the mashed potatoes and looked over at her daughter.

            "Yes! _I'm _a _witch_! See!! Look at this letter _Hogwarts_ sent me!" She handed a letter to her Mum and she read it. 

            "Oh...well...I guess we can tell you now." She sighed and placed the letter on the counter. "You see-"

            "Oh Catty! Catty, Catty, Catty! My sweet, beautiful, wonderful daughter got into Hogwarts! Or some other wizarding school! Oh Catty!" Mr. Fash had opened the door and had run over to his very surprised daughter.

            "Ack! Dad! How do you know about Hogwarts? Oh! Dad! I can't breathe!" She said, trying, and failing, to push her father away before she was suffocated.

            "Oh! Now Catty, don't get mad. I'm a wizard! I never told you before because I wasn't sure if _you_ were one. But you are! Oh I just am so _happy_!" He said, beaming madly.

            "Really? You're a _wizard_? Oooh! Tell me about Hogwarts! Did you go? What is it like? Is there homework year-round? What do they teach there?-"

            "CATTY! Calm down _please_. We can discuss it over dinner, it's getting cold." Catty happily did as she was told and started asking the question over again between mouthfuls.

            "Yes, I'm a wizard and yes I went to Hogwarts. I won't tell you anything about what it is like because I want you to be just as surprised as all the others. Yes, homework _year-round_. They only assign you essays on one thing in the summer though, so it's not like the _school _is year-round. They teach a lot of things! I can't remember all of them. Catty, this is _not_ regular school. You have to work hard and you can't be _just_ passing like you are now."

            "What? You're just passing? You said you didn't know! Catty! Grounded for a week!" Her mum said, looking over at Catty.

            "What? Mum, no! Come _on_! I _didn't_ know! Dad just happened to go up there and find out!" But instantly bit her lip. She was sure she was not helping her case. "Ack, yes, you're right Mum. Definitely a week, heh. The mentor person is coming on the 25th also. Just for you to know." She couldn't wait! She finished her dinner and bounced up to her room. She couldn't believe today. First she finds out she's a witch and gets to go to a _wizarding _school, then she finds out her _dad_ is a wizard. 

Oh, how wonderful today had been.

***          *          ***

            Essence Kindle looked at the white owl sitting on her window seal, bored. "Hello Mr. Owl. How are you? I have to wonder, is it boring flying around giving letters to people? Well I guess someone telling you to go fly wouldn't be _so_ bad." She eyed the owl that had stuck out its leg. "Oh well I supposed you have a lot of other letters to deliver, why should you be held up by one person?" She walked over and untied the letter from the owl's leg. "Ok Mr. Owl. Be on your way." The owl flew off into the warm night air.

            Essence already knew what the letter would be about so she just laid it on her desk and walked off, down the hall. She had known she was a witch for a very long time; she didn't need a letter to tell her that. Or that she had been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her Mum and Dad had told her that she would be for a long time. She wasn't excited about it. At all. She slipped into the bathroom and stepped into the shower. Soon enough a house-elf would enter he room to clean and find the letter and run off to tell 'Master Kindle and Misses Kindle', well, if they were home. That's what her Dad and Faye were to house-elves. _Masters_. She didn't like the idea of house-elves. Well, except when she needed to talk to someone. Well, lately she had been using her diary for that. But still, something that responded was better than a book.

            After finishing her shower, she got on her bedclothes and walked down stairs to the dining room to get some food. Surprisingly though, Faye was there.

            "Essence. I was hoping I would catch you." Essence looked at Faye and her mouth dropped open as she saw her diary; open in front of her Stepmum.

            "FAYE! DID YOU READ MY DIARY?" She yelled, snatching her diary up and holding it to her chest.            

            "Essence, it is the only way I know what is going on in your life! You don't tell me or your father anything anymore-"

            "Of COURSE I don't!" She shrieked. "YOU'RE NEVER _AROUND_! YOU AND FATHER ARE ALWAYS AT _WORK_! YOU'RE _NEVER _HOME! HOW EXACTLY DO YOU EXPECT ME _TO_ TELL YOU ANYTHING?!" She stopped yelling and was breathing heavily.

            "But _Essence-_" Faye tried, but to no avail.

            "No." She said, but then repeated herself with more force. "NO! Just because YOU can't be around long enough for me even to say _hello_, you can't just go off reading my _diary_! It's _private_!" She ran away, back to her room. Or at least she _tried_ to get up to her room. She instead found herself in the indoor garden. She had been coming up here a lot. Her family was rich; her dad was the editor of the Daily Prophet and Faye was 2nd to the Minister of Magic. They were highly respected magic people in the community. It was kind of funny though. Who really knew who the editor of the Daily Prophet was? And people only knew the wizard _1st_ to the Minister. That would be Mr. Black. Kind of funny though. When Essence had met him, he seemed evil to her. Couldn't _they_ see that?

            Ah yes. Back to the problem at hand. In all reality, what Essence had yelled at Faye was true. Mr. and Mrs. Kindle _were_ never home. Essence didn't have any brothers and sisters. She didn't have anything to do either. So she would just wonder aimlessly around. Actually, her house was huge. Her _Mum_, though, was the descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw herself! That was amazing really. But, ah, we keep getting off subject.

            Essence had midnight black hair that was about waist length that she usually kept in a ponytail. She had dark blue eyes and a darker complexion than most. Everything about her was dark. And going to Hogwarts, wearing the black robes probably wasn't going to help. Essence had been home-schooled when she had been about five. Five through ten years of age. Essence hated to admit it, but homework had been a lot better than just sitting around the house all day. She had actually gotten used to doing essays and such. This was good for at Hogwarts because, as she was told, every week each teacher gave you an essay on one thing or another.

            This wasn't as bad to her as to most. She had a lot of books, and was sure she was years ahead of the other first years in Potions. She liked the idea of Potions. Mixing stuff that could be used for magical, special, great, or bad purposes.  Really interesting to her. She had heard the Potions teacher gave the hardest essays. But she was probably ahead of others in a lot of things. She even was starting to read up on Divination. She really couldn't wait 'til August 25th got here. She wasn't at all patient. At least she would get to get away.

            Essence didn't know when, but she dropped off into sleep in the gardens. Really relaxing in there. Water from the fountains, and the buzzing of fairies. A house-elf must have found her, for she woke up in her own bed in the morning, to her dad. Now this didn't happen that much.

            "Honey... Essence...My daughter...I'm sorry. Your mother told me about what had happened. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." He said trailing off as he looked at his daughter.

            "No, it's okay. If you wish to call her my mother, then you can. _I_ just won't." Actually, Mrs. Kindle wasn't Essence's _real_ Mum. Essence's _real_ Mum had died when she was four. She had even seen it happen, but she couldn't have done anything. It had been a tragic accident. Somehow Mrs. Kindle had 'fallen' on a few knives that happened to be protruding from a little wooden block. Kind of weird that they had been facing with the point _out_. Actually, when Essence had gotten older, she herself had 'fallen' on scissors. Of course, that was when she was seven and she had been smarter then. If she hadn't of moved when she did, the scissors would have pierced her neck. Instead they had hit her hand, going right through it.

            That was when she had had to go to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Not _exactly_ the best time of her life, but she had gotten a scar, so that was cool. Oh yes, back to the conversation.

            "Yes, okay dear. Oh Essence. I'm _sorry_. I really am. I suppose I just got caught up so much in work." He sighed, looking very much tired. "I suppose I should stop going to those bloody parties and such. I suppose I should start spending more time here, with you. In all truth, Ess (It is pronounced just like the letter's'), when your mother died, I was too afraid to stay home. I needed something to do. I couldn't sit around wishing she was back. So I hired a tutor and just hid in my work.

            "I'm sorry that I did that now. I wish I had stayed here with you." He put his hand on the back of his neck and looked at his daughter. He smiled. "So I heard you got into Hogwarts." And thus started the conversation about Hogwarts where Essence tried very much to get her father to tell her all about Hogwarts. 

            It was to no reward.

***          *          ***

            It really was amazing how quickly 23 days could pass. Yes, it was finally the 25th of August and Lily was as excited as ever. Of course, before, on the 20th, she had gotten a letter saying that instead of having a mentor per student, a mentor would be assigned a _group_ of students. She and nine other students would be under the supervision of Melody Avert. Anyway, today was it. In just three hours Melody would be here.

            "Lily! Are you ready? Just 30 minutes..." Okay, so maybe it wasn't three hours, but 30 short minutes. Oh no. This was bad. Lily scrambled up to her room and started to try to pick out what she was going to wear. Should she wear jeans? Or a skirt? She decided that she was probably going to be doing a lot of walking and would need to wear tennis shoes, and tennis shoes didn't go with skirts. Now what top to wear? This didn't take as long. She decided to wear the no-sleeve, purple tank top with a plain white Lily on the front. It was Lily's favorite shirt. But I'm sure you don't want to hear about Lily's choice of clothes. 

            Lily rushed down stairs to get her shoes on and wondered how Melody would get there. '_How do wizards and witches travel I wonder..._' 

            But I'm sure we should rather go to Sirius first, who was the third to be picked up.

***          *          ***

            "Sirius! NO!  You are NOT going to that idiot school Hogwarts!" Mrs. Black yelled at her older son.    

            "Yes I am Mum! And the mentor person will be here in a moment!" Mrs. Black looked as though she couldn't find anything to say. 

            "I...Well....How are they going to get here? We aren't connected to the floo network!"

            "I hooked it up this morning." Sirius said calmly. His mum's left eye began twitching and she turned around and left him in the living room alone. "Finally." He said and sat on the couch. Melody would soon get here. Actually, she was there! A woman with blonde hair stepped out of his fireplace and turned immediately to catch the girl and boy who would've fallen otherwise. She steadied them and turned to Sirius, who had stood up. She extended a hand.

            "Hello. You must be Sirius. This is Haven and Cilpert." He shook her hand and smiled at the other two. "Right. On to the speech. Oh, this is boring, I'll just say it when we get to the last house. Come on. Take a handful of the powder, throw it in, watch the flames go green, step into the fire, don't worry it won't burn you, pronounce clearly, and we're off to The Evans' House." They all did like they were told, Melody of course going first. She still had to steady Haven and Cilpert, but Sirius was perfect with it and didn't need help.

            When they got to the house a girl with medium length red hair jumped up from where she was sitting and was beaming. "Hi!" She said, energetically and took Melody's hand, along with Haven's, Cilpert's, and Sirius'.

            "Hello. You must be Lily. This is Haven, Cilpert, and Sirius.  Take a handful of the powder, throw it in, watch the flames go green, step into the fire, don't worry it won't burn you, pronounce clearly, and we're off to The Fash's." Lily did as she was told, following the boy with the black hair in front of her. It was an immediate swirl and Lily closed her eyes. Of course she had to open them when a hand shot out and grabbed her, pulling her from the mix of colors.

            They were now at a house where a girl and her mother were sitting on a couch. As soon as the girl saw them, she jumped up, instantly knocking over the assortment of glass figures that was on the coffee table in front of her. "Oh! Woops, sorry Mum." None had broken, so it was okay. The woman hugged her daughter and said only...

            "Pro-nounce clear-ly." She gave the girl a little key and stepped back.

            "Hello. You must be Catty. This is Haven, Cilpert, Sirius, and Lily. Take a handful of the powder, throw it in, watch the flames go green, step into the fire, don't worry, it won't burn you, pronounce clearly, and were off to The Figg's." Catty watched as Melody disappeared into the flames and wasn't so happy now. She pulled over the girl with the medium length red hair.

            "Is it as bad as it looks?" She asked as the boy 'Cilpert' disappeared.

            "Well...It wouldn't be _my_ choice of travel. But how _do _wizards get around? I come from a...normal family so..." Catty's eye's seemed to light up.

            "Oh me _too_! Oh, it's your turn." Lily smiled and Catty did also. Lily stepped into the green fire and said, clearly,            

            "The Figg's!" And she was off. Catty looked back at her mum, took and deep breath, stepped into the fire, did the same as the girl before her and was consumed in swirls of color. But in a matter of seconds, a hand thrust out and pulled her into a beautifully furnished living room. She said thanks to Melody and slipped over to Lily.

            She heard Melody say the exact things she had said to melody, inserting the girl's name (Arabella) and adding on Catty's on the end. "Does she just say that to everyone?" She whispered to the girl with the red hair.

            "I think so, oh and we never _did_ have a proper introduction. I'm Lily Evans. You?" 'Lily' whispered 

            "Catty Fash." She whispered and smiled, shaking the girl's hand.

            "...and we're off to The Grap's House." Melody finished, as she got a pinch of the powder and through it in the fire.

            After picking up Jimmy Grap, Brook Haven, and Bert Jip, they were off to "The Ravenclaw's Branch".

            "The Ravencalw's Branch? It that what they call their house? How _weird_." Catty whispered to Lily.

            "Actually, Ravenclaw was one of the founders of Hogwarts, along with Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Ravenclaw is actually a House at Hogwarts too." Said a boy with short black hair that was rather cute. Well at least to Catty. _Lily_, though, seemed to be more interested on what he was saying.

            "Really? Did you come from a wizarding family? We didn't so we don't know a lot. Lily Evans." She finished, extending a hand.

            "And I'm Catty Fash." Catty chirped cheerfully, also extending a hand. He shook both of their hands.    

            "Yeah, I come from a wizarding family. I'm Sirius Black." But he didn't get to say more, for it was his turn to go to the next, and last, house.

 Arabella had a hard time with the floo powder, just like she had for the past three times. Lily, Catty, Sirius, and almost everyone else had gotten pretty good at it. Well, Sirius had already been good at it. So really only Lily and Catty and the others got better.

            When they got there they gaped at the _huge_ living room. Ok, well Sirius didn't, because it was the same size as James'. But _that_ was because James lived in Gryffindor's house. 

            When they settled down, they saw a girl with long black hair, in a ponytail and dark blue eyes. A woman that looked nothing like her sat beside her and also gave her a key. They never found out what her name was, for Arabella and Haven were whispering in front of them and they couldn't hear anything.

            They were soon off to Diagon Alley. Lily and Sirius, as well as Haven and Cilpert got there safely. Catty, on the other hand, didn't.

             Instead of saying 'Diagon Alley' she said, "Diagonally.", which was not right at all. So as everyone else finished arriving at Diagon Alley, Melody was in a frenzy looking for Catty. Faye, who had come to make sure they found the girl, decided she'd watch the kids for a few minutes.

            It turned out, though that Catty found her way back to everyone, from wherever she was. While Melody was pulling out her hair, she walked right up to Lily and everyone else and said "There you are! Hi!" Of course Melody freaked out, and starting giving a mini speech on how important it was to stay with the group

            Essence found her way over to Lily, Catty, and Sirius. They all exchanged hellos and Essence explained that she was from a wizarding family, like Sirius. "So like, you're whole house is made of magic? Well, I mean is your house full of magic?" Catty asked, not really making much sense at all.

            "Um...Yeah. I think so..." She shrugged and noticed Sirius was looking around. "Looking for someone?"

            "Yeah, my friend. He was supposed to meet me here...Oh! James! There you are." James looked over his shoulder to see his best friend with three other girls. He said something to his Mum, and ran over to Sirius.

            "'Lo Sirius."

            "'Lo James. These are some people. Let's see, Catty...um..."  Obviously he had forgotten her last name.

            "Fash." 

            "Yes, right. And this is Essence Kindle, descendant of Ravenclaw, and Lily Ev..._Ev..._" He said, trying to get her to say her last name, the one he obviously had forgotten. She just looked at him with a fake, confused look on her face.

            "My last name isn't Ev...." He scowled at her and she laughed. "Lily Ev_ans_. Hi." She said to James. He smiled at her.

            "So did you get your key Sirius?" James said, pulling out a small golden key from his pants pocket.

            "Yup." Sirius replied while pulling out a similar key. 

            "Hey! Lookie! I have one also." Catty said, smiling happily. Essence also pulled out a similar one, but one that had an intricate design on it of a Raven.

            "What are those for?" Lily said, wondering that and also why she didn't have a little golden key.

            "For the little...places in Gringotts where all your money is kept. Oh, do you come from a Muggle family? That means a normal family. If you do, you probably don't have one." James said looking over at Lily. Lily had wondered what the gold, silver, and bronze coins that she had seen in the hands of a few people when she came in had come from and where she was going to get some.

            But she didn't have a key _or_ money! How would she buy her stuff? But then she remembered something her grandmother had given her when she was a baby...

            She unhooked her golden necklace and slipped off the key that the chain held. It was a small key just like the others. She decided she would go up to the counter with everyone else, give them her key, and see what they made of it.

            She was amazed when she saw who she would be handing her key to. _Goblins. _Catty seemed amazed at this too.

            "_Goblins_? I have _goblins_ protecting my money? Wow! This is _so_ cool!" The others laughed at her and walked up to the counter.

            Melody had told them to ask for a cart for about four of them so they could leave earlier. After getting their keys checked, and by being assigned a goblin named Griphat, they were off in a cart suited for four rather small people. By accounting that there were _six_ people in the cart (well, five people and one creature) I don't believe I have to tell you it was a bit cramped.

            Catty's was the first door that they came upon. Her number was 563 and when Griphat opened the door, a small mound of gold was in the corner, and a larger mound of silver and bronze coins was in the middle. She grabbed a bit of each kind of coin and sat down next to Essence.

            Sirius' 'compartment' was next (579). He had a much larger mound of gold, and a smaller bit of bronze and silver. Lily looked over at Catty and was sure she saw her color a bit. As they got deeper, they reached a cave and Lily, from James' side asked, "I never know, what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"

            "'Unno, never knew myself." He replied as they began to slow down. They stopped in front of a door with the numbers 615 on the front. Essence gave the key to Griphat who unlocked it and blushed as he swung the door open to reveal the huge pile of gold that out ranked even Sirius' pile. She only had a very small pile of silver, and no bronze at all, so she scooped a bit of the gold into her bag and sat down.

            It turned out to be quite a while longer before they got to Lily's or James'. It turned out, though, that they were right next door to each other! Lily's at 812 and James' at 814. This turned out to be strange because, of course, where was 813? When they asked Grip hat, though, he ignored them and unlocked James' door.

            As Lily opened her door, though, she gasped. Her grandmother had left her a fortune! It was even slightly larger than Essence's. James' pile, though, about ranked all of them. As she looked into his cave and looked at him, he shrugged.

            "Wow! Lily! I thought you said you came from a Muggle family! How do you have so much gold?" Catty said. Lily looked back at the door after sitting down and shrugged.

            "My Grandmum was a witch; I guess she left me more money than I thought..." Catty decided to drop the subject, but battered James with questions.

            "So how did you get more money than probably _all_ of us combined? I mean do you realize how _much_ that is? I mean, I probably won't _ever_ have that much in my life!" Catty waved her arms around to express her point, but Sirius grabbed one and shook his head. He looked a little green. Catty shrugged and turned back to Lily.

            Soon they were all out of Gringotts and were standing in front of Melody, who was telling them what the schedule would be.  Lily wasn't rather all that interested in how they were going to get their things in a special order, but rather _getting_ them. So she didn't listen. It really is amazing how a person can spend 30 minutes talking about a schedule and then another _hour_ talking how you shouldn't take a lot of time, only about 10 minutes in each store.

            But finally, they were off. Sirius and James were talking about other things, obviously already been being here.

            Essence was explaining everything to Catty, who was asking as many questions as she could think of, soon getting to useless questions like "So that store is made out of _brick_?"

            Lily was just looking around at everything and smiling. But soon she had to stop because they were at their first store.

            As they went along in their schedule, they got their books, parchment, quills, robes, cauldrons, and many other things. But that wasn't what anyone was looking forward to. Everyone was looking forward to picking out wands. 

            And soon, but all to long for the kids, they were at Ollivanders. But not everyone got to go in at one time. Therefore, Essence was very annoyed that she would be last.

            As Haven and Cilpert went in, the rest of them got to sit outside and mess with their other stuff. James, who hadn't bought anything (saving it for when he was _really _supposed to go, even though he got some money for the new broom that he had permission to buy) stole one of Sirius' quills and was now poking him relentlessly. Soon, though, Sirius got out another quill and they were treating the quills like swords, or knives. They never _did_ get hurt, even though Lily thought they should, being so careless. 

            After another 30 minutes, it was Sirius' and Lily's turn, even though James also snuck in. Melody was outside trying to calm down the rest of them, so it wasn't really as much as _sneaking_ as _walking_. Sirius, first to go, got his wand on the 6th try.  It was Beachwood, with a core of phoenix tail feathers. About seven inches. Pretty flexible. Sirius beamed happily when he waved it, and it emitted a show of red and gold fireworks. Mr. Ollivander wasn't so happy that the fireworks wouldn't stop, even after a few minutes. 

            He eventually stopped it, and soon Lily was up. Like it had done with Sirius, a tape measure with silver markings took measurements of Lily, and she blushed rather badly when she realized she was being measured in front of two boys. After about the 11th try, though, Lily finally found her match. It was made of willow, ten and a quarter inches long, and really swishy. It, also, had a core of phoenix tail feather. He told her, that it would be a good wand for Charms work.

            When Lily had waved the wand, though, it emitted sparks of _purple_. This, Lily thought, was weird. Obviously so did Sirius and James, for she heard them whispering about it while it happened.

            But James was up next, so the whispering soon ceased. As the tape measure measured James, James looked at Mr. Ollivander who was looking through the high stacks of boxes. After a few minutes of measuring, and once James was deeply annoyed with it, Mr. Ollivander finally said "That will be enough." And brought over a box.

            James gave it a _swish_ but it did nothing. As did the 16 others.

            "Okay! Aren't _17 _wands enough? You know Mr. Ollivander, I think James here is just wand inept. Jamsie, maybe you're not supposed to _have_ a wand-"

            "Will you stop calling me Jamsie!? It's bloody annoying..." And James went off muttering about…well since he was muttering you couldn't tell real well.

            "Maybe this one..." Mr. Ollivander said, more to himself, and gave a wand to James. A very nice wand actually. It was Mahogany, 11 inches, flexible. Great for Transfiguration work.

            And it worked! Finally, the wand emitted a shower of red and gold sparks. Sirius sprang up from where he had been sitting on the floor. "Finally! Jamsie! I was getting worried!" Sirius cried dramatically. James rolled his eyes and pushed Sirius over. This happened to be bad.

            Sirius, after being pushed, tripped over the tape measure, bumped into Lily, and sent her toppling over into a stack of wands. It accordingly fell and hit other stacks, sending wand boxes toppling everywhere.

            James couldn't help himself, and started laughing, both at the toppling wands and at the red headed girl who was looking absolutely terrified. Sirius joined in and soon they were being thrown out of the store by wand.

            When Lily walked out, James and Sirius were sitting on the ground rubbing their bleeding knees.

            "Oooow. That hurt." James said, looking at the bleeding scrape on his knee.

            "Serves you right, ruining the whole store like that!" Lily said.

            "I didn't ruin the whole store. Sirius happened to be inept to be able to stand on two feet." James replied, irritably.

            "No, _you_ had to push him _off_ his two feet!" Lily said heatedly.

            "No, it just _happened_! And plus, maybe Ollivander should keep his wands better than just stacking them up!"

            "No, you should just get over it and admit you caused it!"

            "No, you just need to shut up already!"

            "Why should I? I didn't ruin a whole store!"

            "Why do _you_ care so much? It's not _your_ store!"

            "So? It's still ruined and _you're_ still the cause of it!"

            "Can we just drop this? It was just one thing-"

            "Yeah, then you couldn't admit-"

            "-didn't do anything-"

            "-can't even-"

            "-won't drop-"

            "-doesn't get-"

            "-needs to shut up-"

            "-needs to admit-"

            It was rather funny if you were there. Here were these two people who had only known each other for less than a few hours and were yelling at each other over pushing. Finally, though, Sirius, Essence, and Melody all got annoyed with it.

            "Evans! Potter! Stop right this- Potter! You're not supposed to be here! What are you doing? Potter! Evans? Hello?" Melody tried, but Lily and James were still yelling at each other.

            "YOU JUST LIKE ARGUING!"

            "WELL YOU CAN'T ADMIT ANYTHING!"

            "SHUT UP ALREADY!!" Sirius yelled, walking over and pushing them both. They both looked up and saw that everyone was staring at them. Even Catty and Arabella who had just exited the shop.

            "Potter! Now that you are actually _listening_..." And thus started Melody yelling at James over how he should not even be there, and ruined everything.

            It was a while before Melody finally stopped yelling. Then it was 'free time'. Of course if they didn't show up at the meeting place by 4:00 they would be left behind. And they all knew she wasn't kidding.

            "That was _so_ funny when Sirius pushed you though; you looked all surprised and was like 'Oh...' It was really funny!" Catty said as she, Essence, and Lily walked around Diagon Alley.

            "No it wasn't! It was embarrassing..."

            "Think of it this way," Essence said, with a laugh. "You just spazzed out in front of only _1/3_ of the first years, who will be following you all through your _seven_ years at Hogwarts, so it's not like it was a big deal..." Lily glared at her and rolled her eyes.

            "I personally think that he is way too self-absorbed." Lily said.

            "You can't know that, you don't even know him!" Catty argued.

            "Actually, if you ask me, Sirius, when I first met him, struck me as rather self absorbed and annoying, but _now_ he doesn't...Well actually I really don't know him so..."

            "You knew him before?" Lily said, trying to change the subject. It worked.

            "Yup. He and my..._Step_mum work together, first and second to the minister so..." She would've continued had it not been for the look of puzzlement on Catty and Lily's faces. "The Minister of Magic. You know, the guy who controls the whole Ministry. You _do_ know what the ministry is right? Oh...well obviously not. It...It's the center for all the magic. Anyway, the Minister is actually James' father, so I've met him before but not as much so..." She stopped for she had seen the new Cleansweep two, the newest, fastest, and best broom there was, in the window of the Quidditch supply shop.

            "Hey, what's Quidditch?" Lily asked, reading the sign above the shop, and three gasps sounded. One from Essence, and two from behind her.

            "You don't know what _Quidditch_ is? Huh. That'd be terrible not to know of Quidditch before now. What would you have done during the 11 years you've been living, eh Sirius?"

            "Oh yes! How atrocious! So, Essence, getting the new Cleansweep? I, myself, am. So is Jamsie here."

            "Sirius!" James said, as Sirius walked over to Essence and stood beside her, looking at the newest broom.

            "Oh, yup. But I here there is going to be a new Nimbus coming out, so I might wait for it."

            "Yeah, but I heard that it will be coming out in two years. What do you have now?"

            "I don't know, I think a Nimbus 300. I like Nimbus' better, you?"

            "Oh, I prefer what ever goes fastest." Essence laughed and they began talking about what was happening lately in the world of Quidditch. James didn't bother to try to jump into the conversation, knowing he'd be thrown right back out again.

            "So you've _never_ heard of Quidditch?" He asked, after walking over to Lily.

            "No." She said, rather stiffly.

            "Want me to explain it to you?"

            "Rather not."

            "Well, I'll just tell you and you can just ignore me." He said happily. "Well it's a wizarding sport that-"

            "Isn't a nimbus an aura or-"

            "Those are brooms, but we're-"

            "Oh really? So witches and wizards really _do_ fly around on brooms? Oh this is _so_ cool!-"

            "Oy! James! Sirius!" Both boys turned to look over their shoulders to see Remus Lupin running over to them. He had light brown hair, and was rather tall.

            "'Lo Remus." Sirius said, and returned to his conversation with Essence which both of them had rather gotten into.

            "Remus! 'Lo!" James greeted, and waved him over. Remus smiled at Lily and Catty. "This is Lily Evans, and that's Catty Fish-"

            "Fash."

            "Right and I was just starting to explain about Quidditch."

            "No, you were starting to explain of brooms."

            "No, that was before you interrupted." Catty let out a hurtful gasp and started to reply. "So anyway, "James started over Catty and she glared at him.

            "Well really James, you'll just have to answer her questions about brooms when you get to telling them about how the game is played on brooms, and it would just be worse for her to interrupt in the middle instead of the beginning so..."

            James glared at Remus. "Thought you were on _my_ side."

            "Who said there had to be sides? He was just voicing his opinion." Lily said, finally speaking.

            "Yeah, but he's _my_ best friend, therefore he should stick up and agree with everything _I_ say."

            "Why? It's not like _you're_ the ruler of what he should agree with. And why everything?"

            "So, that doesn't mean he has to say _she's_ right."

            "And what's wrong with her?"

            "She's not his best friend!"

            "He was just voicing his _opinion_! Not saying she was right!"

            "Well obviously you weren't listening-"

            "Obviously I was, just you-"

            "-you don't even know-"

            "-can't even _see-_"

            "-can't get it at all-"

            "-can't understand-"

            Remus looked at the two fighting. "So...how long have they known each other?"

            "'Bout two hours or so I'd say." Catty said, eyeing the two humorously.

            "Well, at least we know that they won't get along well in the future..."

            It took Lily and James a while to stop fighting, and that was only after they had both realized they didn't even know what they had started fighting about in the first place. Of course then they had to start fighting about what they had started fighting about in the first place and so when Sirius and Essence finally ended _their_ discussion, it was rather hard for them to understand what was going on. 

            After a while Sirius tried to stop the fight, but obviously they had gone on to something else because he caught wisps of the conversation that went like, "How would you know anything!" "You think you're _so _better!" And then other sentences like, "Purple! _Purple_! You're probably-" "You think you can do _anything_ and-"

            James didn't even notice when Sirius stole his bag of gold from his wildly swinging arms. It was hard even for Melody to separate them. Well really, she didn't. It was more of Essence hitting them both on the head with the heel of her hand.

            When it was finally time to leave, Sirius gave James the broom that he had bought with the gold he had stolen from James, and the two, plus Remus, went off whispering.

            Lily, Catty, and Essence were all talking about how it is/would be to live in a wizarding family.

            It wasn't long before they were all home, even Haven.

            Lily went straight up to her room and started reading vigorously through he books. James got his broom out, and went outside to practice his flying, getting used to the broom. Sirius went up to his room and started planning pranks and such. Catty was bouncing around the house and skipping. Essence was also reading her books. And Remus, well he was reading up on werewolves, his newfound breed.

***          *          ***

            The group of six had all been thrilled on September 1st, and was all hurried to pack and to leave on time by their mothers. Well, save Sirius and Essence. Sirius' Mum didn't want him to go, so was in no hurry to get him packed. Faye was to busy at her job, so Essence's dad pushed her to get ready.

            Maybe we should get into it separately....

***          *          ***

            "MUM!" Lily shrieked from her room. "MUM! WHERE _IS_ IT?!?" Her Mum rushed up the stairs. 

            "Where is what?"

            "My books! All of my books! I haven't found them! Oh, no, oh, no. This is _so_ bad!" And thus they started searching. Well, it turned out they were already in her trunk. "Oh...sorry Mum. Oh...hold on...my quills! WHERE ARE MY QUILLS?!" Her mother looked at her exasperated and pointed to her hand. Lily looked down on her hand and saw that she was holding them.

            "Lily, maybe you should calm down. You'll probably over work yourself and get sick again!"

            "Yea, but Mum! They can probably just fix it with some potion or something! Oh, this is going to be _amazing_. Oh, what about Christmas?"

            "What do you mean Lily?" Her mum said from over Lily's trunk. She was making sure everything was there for Lily.

            "I mean, what if I can come home for Christmas? Should I come home or stay..." She wasn't really sure she wanted to stay home with Petunia for yet another Christmas. Petunia had been colder ever since they found out she was a witch. And she did not want to stay home with an evil-glance-shooting sister.

            "Um...Well whichever dear, maybe you can plan it out. This year, Hogwarts, next year home, and so forth. I'm sure you'll want to stay with your friends, get closer to them. But remember to owl us every week. And do your homework. And don't forget we love you. And make plenty of friends..." Lily rolled her eyes as her mother jumped into what she shouldn't forget. It was a pretty long list.

            After about 20 minutes, Lily looked at the clock and jumped. "Oh Mum! Time to go! Hurry!" Mrs. Evans looked at the clock.

            "Oh! Well come on. DANIEL! HELP ME WITH THIS TRUNK!" Lily's dad rushed in and grabbed the trunk. He dragged it out to the car as Lily rambled on about how cool and exciting it was going to be at Hogwarts. How she was going to be the best student and everything.

            Lily, her Mum, and Dad got into the car and drove off to the station.

***          *          ***

            "JAMES! GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTINT!" Yes, that would be James' Mum yelling at him. It was almost, oh lets check, two _hours_ before they were supposed to leave!

            "MUM! Its two _hours_ before we have to leave! Why do I have to get ready so early?" James grumbled, walking down that stairs into the huge living room.

            "Because, Sirius is here." She stated calmly and walked back into the kitchen.

            "Sirius! 'Lo!" James grinned and Sirius did too.

            "'Lo. So, I've thought of this prank that we can play..." He leaned back to look into the doorway of the kitchen. He leaned back so far, though, that he fell. James was almost rolling because of laughter. Sirius mumbled something but jumped up. They both ran to James' room where they planned out their devious plot. Or, well devious _prank_.

            Before long it was time to leave for the station.

            "Mum...why is there a dirty rag in the middle of the floor?" James asked. Sirius leaned over and whispered in his ear something about the house elves. James tried hard to suppress his laughter. It didn't work.

            "James! Sirius! It's a _portkey_. We'll go to my friend's house. She lives _right_ by the station, so we'll just have to walk. Now, just grab a hold and it will yank us away."

            And it did. After James and Sirius had grabbed a hold, it spun them wild.

            Soon a room materialized in front of them. It was rather small, but a cozy feel had a hold on it, despite the honking of the cars from outside the window. A lady with short red hair greeted them and started talking with Mrs. Potter.

            "Oh, Mum. _Mum_, it's time to go! Yes, it _has_ been that long. No, I can't wait Mum. Please? Come _on._" Finally Mrs. Potter said good-bye to her friend and they all walked out onto the street.

            "Wait...Something's missing...Your trunks! Where are they? JAMES! Did you leave them at the _house_? Oh no! Oh this is terrible! Oh! JAMES POTTER, YOU ARE NOT GETTING A NEW BROOM UNTIL YOU ARE FIFTY!" James and Sirius looked at each other through all the shrieking and pulled out little boxes from their pockets.

            "What...YOU SHRUNK THEM? YOU _SHRUNK_ THEM?! HOW COULD YOU OF _SHRINK_ THEM?" The boys looked at each other again.

            "Dad."

            "How...He....OH YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!" She took them back inside the house and magicked the trunks back to full size. They dragged them to the station and got a cart.

***          *          ***

_Crash_. "CATTY!" 

            "Oh _Mum._ I'm so sorry!" Catty wailed from the bottom of the stairs.

            "Oh, don't be sorry! You can't be sorry when you've just fallen down the stairs! Oh, your head...Kit! Can you fix this? It's rather deep..." Mr. Fash walked over and did a spell to fix the cut on Catty's head. 

            "Do you have all of your things ready? You didn't lose them did you? Catty, are you _sure_? Oh, here they are sorry sweety. Oh, yes sorry. Sorry _Catty_." Catty was currently jumping around, bumping into many things.

            "Oh, sorry Mum. Dad! Didn't see you there, sorry. Oh, sorry…table. Oh I can't wait!"

            She continued to jump around the house hours, bumping into things a lot, and falling a few times. Soon, but not soon enough for Mr. And Mrs. Fash, it was time to leave for the station. 

            Even though Catty had just spent the last 30 minutes jumping around, which was remarkable in its own, she jumped into the car and was jumping up and dawn in her seat.

            "Now Catty, you have to realize this is _not_ regular school. This will be _much_ harder and you need to realize you have to do the homework and can't slack off. You can come home for Christmas, if you want. If you want to make a pattern of it, than stay this year, come home next year, and so forth so you can stay for the fifth and seventh years. You have big tests at the end of those, so you'll need to stay and study. I'm not trying to be prejudice or anything, but try not to be friends with anyone from the Slytherin house. They are bad news Catty; they turn out dark wizards more than any other house. I think you'll get into the Gryffindor house, or maybe Hufflepuff. 

"Now this game, Quidditch, you'll be able to try next year for a position. I was a great beater in my days, so hopefully you will be too. Also, stay out of the Forbidden forest. Bad news, ugly creatures. In the lake, I wonder if they ever got that squid. Yes, I believe they did. Threw a ruckus in the Ministry. But Dumbledore is smart. 

"Dumbledore is going to be your Headmaster. He came in two years ago, from being DADA teacher. Oh! I suppose I'll tell you what they teach. Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions, ah… Charms, History of Magic, and others. They can never get a good DADA teacher, never could. Probably the hardest to teach. I loved it though, probably most exciting class. Now I don't blame you if you fall asleep in History of Magic, everyone does. Well you probably won't tell us anyway. Anyway, here we are…" He was forced to stop his speech. Catty, who had only been half-heartedly listening, gave up the act and squealed.

            They got a cart for Catty's trunk and walked over to Platforms 9 and 10. "Um, Dad? Where is 9 ¾?" A Stationmaster had been behind her and heard her.

            "There is no 9 ¾ Platform here missy."

            "No-" But her father tapped her foot before she could say anything more.

            "We know, she read the ticket wrong." He went off, mumbling about how bad education was getting these days, while they turned and made there way over to the barrier that Mr. Fash was now quietly explaining to Catty.

***          *          ***

            "Essence, ready? We're going to use the Portkey I was telling you about yesterday. Anyway, you already now that you shouldn't act up, you should do all of your homework, and so forth, right?" Essence bobbed her head up and down showing that really she wasn't listening, just focusing on how much she couldn't bare waiting. Her father rolled his eyes and got out a small little bag. It obviously looked like trash, as Essence knew it would.

            "Dad, I never got the chance to ask you. You know how wizards make them look like trash so people won't steal them and all, well what if they pick them up because they think its trash? I mean, wouldn't it just be the same thing?-" But before he could answer, she was whisked away in a swirling mesh of colors, which reminded her of the floo powder.

So in a matter of seconds, they were in a room holding a dirty bag of what had been sugar cookies.

            There was no one there, as Essence thought there would have been. Wasn't it someone else's house? Or was this theirs? Why was she just finding out about this? Well really she probably wouldn't of cared before but…

            "Oh no. We left early. Thirty minutes before we have to leave…Well more time to talk with you!" Essence mentally groaned. Talking with Daddy! Yay!

            "How well are you on your broom? I wasn't at all good when I went to school, and neither was your mother. But you have been practicing a lot. What position do you like best? Chaser?"

            "No. Beater, definitely Beater."

            "Wow. Really? I don't think there has been a woman beater in the professionals since Keldren in 1643. And she quit her first game! But I'm proud of whatever you do. You got that new Cleansweep right? I don't like that kind of broom though, to…well the professionals don't like them much either so…Well honestly, I'm not really 'up' with the world of Quidditch. The Prophet has been busy lately."

"Oh, really? How is that new competition, the Quibbler?"

"Oh it's not much at all! They speak about false and fantasy things. Things that are obviously fake, and do not exist. I believe that it will quit soon." Essence nodded; she had seen it, and it really _didn't_ have anything that was real. Of course, nothing that was real to people who believed too much on what they had seen, and not what was out there.

            It was a funny paper though, but she did not include this with the things she told her dad over dinner.

            So they continued talking until it was time to go to the station, where they got a cart, and went over to Platforms 9 and 10.

            When they got there, they saw a redheaded girl with a cart looking up helplessly at Platforms 9 and 10.

            "Hey, LILY!" The girl turned around and a smile grew on her face when she saw Essence. Se rushed over.

            "What is Platforms 9 ¾, and how do you get on it?"

            "You're from a Muggle family? Don't worry, plenty other people are also. Just lean through this barrier. Don't worry; it's not solid so it won't hurt. You're obviously nervous and new at this so you better get a running start. Trust me; I've done this before, for seven years actually! Don't worry; they're all nervous at first anyway…"

            "With a few exceptions." Said a woman voice from behind him.

            "Delia! How _are_ you! I haven't seen you in ages. Hello James, got your best friend with you? Hello Sirius."

            "Oh, I'm fine, even though these boys are wearing me out. You?"

            "Oh I'm fine. It has been busy at the Daily Prophet though."

            "Oh it must be with that whole Quidditch trial. How is that going by the way? I haven't had much time to read the Prophet these days. A lot to do."

            "Oh well, they aren't getting anywhere. It looks like they are going to have to let them go. No evidence."

            "Yes, I thought so from when I first heard about it."

            "Mum! Can we please go? It's almost time to go!"

            "Oh, yes, sorry Jamsie." There were snickers from Sirius and giggles from the girls. James glared at Sirius.

            "Bye Delia, hope we meet up soon." Essence was the first to go through the barrier, running.

            Lily, who was still skeptical of running through a solid wall, closed her eyes while running. She didn't expect to go right through, and almost ran into Essence.

            "Wow." Lily breathed as she looked around. There were so many people! She also saw the scarlet steam engine. She couldn't help but grin.

            "Oh wow! A _train_! I always wanted to ride a _train_!"

            "Really? I always thought you wanted to ride a unicorn Sirius." Sirius pushed James who hit Essence, who hit Lily's cart, which fell over.

            "Will you PLEASE stop pushing each other?! Have you noticed that someone always pushes something over? At least learn to stand before you push each other!"

            The boys mumbled something about being inept, when someone with greasy hair turned up behind them.

            "Wow, getting told off by a girl, and then actually doing what she said." The two boys looked over their shoulders to see Serveus Snape standing there with a smirk on his face.

            "Wow, having a half of a gallon of grease on your head, and you can still hold it up. Does it ever get heavy?"

            "At least that's better than having a huge ego and being conceited." Lily muttered.

            "I don't need help from you." Snape snarled at Lily.

            "Sure you do! How else are you going to think of anything? You do remember that grease pollutes things, including brains right? Or, well, at least it pollutes _yours_."

            "Wow, you must be right Black. Why would I be spending my time on low people like _you_? Oh, and Black, how's the dark side of life coming?" James raised an eyebrow and Sirius narrowed his eyes.

            "How's the grease side of life coming?" Essence responded, to the rescue of Sirius. Snape just raised an eyebrow with a smirk and walked away.

            "Sirius what was-?"

            "Come on, we have to get on the train." Mumbled Sirius. James looked rather taken aback by the attitude of Sirius and walked after him silently.

            When they were gone Lily raised her eyebrows. "And what was that about?" Essence looked at Lily as she walked forward, pushing her cart ahead of her.

            "Come on, I'll explain on the train."

            When they were on the train, it was hard to find an open compartment. As they were walking around, they met Catty also trying to find a compartment. When they were at the back of the train, they hadn't found an open compartment.

            "Uh…Oh! There's only one person in this compartment!" Catty said. "Can we sit with you? Every, and I mean _every,_ compartment is full." The girl smiled and helped them to get their trunks up on the racks.

            "Hi! I'm Arabella."

            "Oh! The British/Germanish/Frenchish sounding name!"

            "Oh at least even _you_ should have the brain to think of real words. Oh, well maybe not. Being a Mudblood."

            "Shut up Malfoy! Why don't you and your grease-ball of a friend get, and wash your hair!" Essence said, springing up. The others looked rather clueless.

            "Oh, but why? It looks so comfy in here, with all these Mudbloods." Essence's eyes flared.

            "_Locomotor Malfoy_!" Someone from behind Malfoy said, and Malfoy rose a few inches, and fell back on the floor on his rear-end. Laughs erupted from the people who saw, save Snape.

            "_Locomotor Trunk_!" Malfoy tried to get the trunk to fly to whoever had yelled the spell, but it didn't as much as wiggle. The people laughed harder then ever. Malfoy and Snape left, revealing James and Sirius doubled over, laughing.

            "Who did the spell?" Essence asked.

            "Oh, Jamsie here." Sirius said, between gales of laughter. James tried pushing Sirius but they both just fell over, still laughing.

            "Wow! That's amazing!"

            "I would've shrunk him, but I forgot the spell. Actually, I didn't think _Locomotor Malfoy_ would work." You could here a crash from down the isle, like someone falling. The just laughed harder. Well, except Lily. She hadn't laughed very hard at all.

            "That was rude." She said.

            "No it wasn't, they called you a bad name. And plus, a lot of things are rude. Life is rude, big deal."

            "What? Oh, you mean a Mud-"

            "Yea, that's it. Anyway, it's a cussword pretty much, just in wizarding form. A nicer form would be Muggle-born. Anyway, Snape and Malfoy are jerks."

            "I still think it was rude of you to do that! And if you don't' mind, I don't need _you_ to save me, or even _help_ me."

            "Yeah, well if I'm conceited than you're stuck-up."

            "Conceited and stuck-up mean the same idiot."

            "Yeah, but you and stuck-up mean the same thing."

            "At least I'm not an idiotic conceited jerk."

            "At least I don't stick up for grease-ball."

            "Ok, NO! You two are not going to start fighting, it's to bloody hard to get you two apart." Sirius said, stepping in front of James.

            "Ok, well now that you've made a jerk out of yourself Potter, you can leave along with your best friend. We can do just well without the both you." Lily said, rather coldly.

            "Fine Evans. My pleasure." James said, just as coldly. The boys left, whispering to each other about something or another.

            "Why were you so cold?" Arabella asked Lily interestedly.

            "Because, I don't like him." She said simply.

            "Why not?"

            "Because, I know that they aren't going to be good people to hang around. They seem like jerks anyway." The others shrugged and Essence went in to teaching them how to play Exploding Snap.

            After James and Sirius had left. They had gone back to their own compartment to find Remus there uncomfortably sitting across from a short boy with a mousy look about him.

            "Sirius, James! 'Lo! Come, sit, save me!" Remus said and moved over. Sirius looked the boy up and down.

            "Hello Mr. Midget."

            "Sirius!" Remus said sharply. The boy blushed and looked out the window.

            "What? You're starting to sound like Lily. Okay, _fine_. Hi! I'm Sirius! What's _your_ name?" Sirius said smiling.

            "Peter Pettigrew. Hi…" The boy said looking at Sirius before looking out the window again.

            "Right." James said but pulled Sirius over. "Okay, we need to get him out of here or we won't get anything planned!"

            "Well where are we going to put him?"

            "How about the…girls' compartment?"

            "Yeah, okay."

            "Hello!" Sirius cried dramatically as he entered. They all looked up from Lily and Essence's game of Exploding Snap.

            "Hi Sirius." Essence said, before returning to the game.

            "So now we're on first name basis, Ess?"

            "So now we're on nickname basis?" She raised an eyebrow and he looked at her blankly.

            "I don't know, _are_ we?" He walked over and put his elbow on her shoulder as an armrest. She smiled and dropped her shoulder so his elbow slid off.

            "Probably not; I'm not dead yet."

            "Why must you be so cold and hateful? It hurts me so." He said dramatically. Essence narrowed her eyes.

            "What do you want?" James and Sirius both we taken aback.

            "Who said we wanted something?"

            "You wouldn't be acting friendly after we kicked you out of our compartment if you didn't want something." Arabella pointed out.

            "Well," James stretched his legs out and put them on the seat opposite to him, and right next to Lily. "We're very forgiving people."

            "Well I'm not." Lily said, as she pushed his feet off the seat, making him lose his balance and fall on the floor.

            "Well I think _that's_ obvious." He said.

            "Now, back to what you want." Essence said to Sirius.

            "Well, you see. We do need your help. Well when you kicked us out we went back to our compartment but then found out it was infested with his little mouse guy-"

"Mr. Midget." James interjected. Sirius looked over at him. "What?"

"Anyway, you see we need to plan something therefore we can not have him there therefore you need to take him and keep him."

 Even though Catty, Lily, and Arabella looked lost at what Sirius just said, Essence looked like she understood perfectly.

            "Why would we take someone just so you can plan your latest prank?" The two shrugged.

            "Who said were going to plan a prank?"

            "What else would you be planning?" The two looked at each other.

            "Funeral."

            "Terribly sad."

            "But someone needs to do it right?"

            "Oh, yes. Who died?"

            "My…Great-Aunt-Uncle." James said. Sirius put his head in his hands.

            "He means his Great-Aunt who's name was Uncle."

            "Right-o."

            "Well, where is he going to sit?" They looked around.

            "Ah, he can sit in your lap!" Sirius said happily.

            "You had a better chance of being on a nickname basis with me." Essence said.

            "Well personally, I don't want him in here either. He's _your_ problem. Not _ours_."

            "Oh come on Evans, please? I'll leave you alone for the rest of the seven years! Okay, I probably won't. Sorry for lying, but I will leave you alone for the rest of the day! Please?" Lily rolled her eyes.

            "No. You probably won't even leave us along for the rest of the day."

            "Really? You will? Thank you!"

            "No, we won't so you and your friend here can just leave please and go plan your prank that probably won't work anyway-"

            "Why?" James said, rather hurt that he was being told that his plan wouldn't work.

            "Because, most likely you're trying to do something way to hard and the only thing you'll succeed in would be getting yourself in the Hospital Wing."

            "How do you know?" James said coldly. "At least I would take the chance instead of…_not_ taking the chance.

            "Okay, sure." Lily said smugly.

            "And once again, you say _I'm _stuck up."

            "That's because you _are_."

            "So now how are we going to plan anything mate?" Sirius asked.

            "Well, I'll give you something to work on. Sneak into the Slytherin Common Room, with Snape and Malfoy are bound to be in, then plant something, and turn him pink!" Lily suggested. "And get about a month's worth of detention." James' and Sirius' faces hardened.

            "Your right. Now…how do we get them to tell us the password?"

            "Oh! I know, what we need to do is make a-"

            "Sirius! You can't tell _them_," He motioned to the girls, "everything! If you are going to be a criminal mastermind then you have-to-get-these-things-right!" James said, emphasizing the last part by hitting the wall of the train.

            "Right!" Sirius said, popping up out of his chair. "Well, we must go and plan our devious plan further but-"

            "Would you like anything off the cart dears?"

            "FOOD!" Sirius and James yelled, scrambling over to the doorway. They bought everything off the cart, and the lot of it cost 3 galleons, and a sickle.

            "Oh my god! How can you even _think_ about eating all of that?!" Essence exclaimed.

            "Ofe, yef. Soffy. Foo foo fan fun?" (Oh, yes. Sorry. Do you want some?) James said, offering her a pumpkin pasty.

            "Fo! Fever fill fe fiv foo far foo! Fist fyn fy fell foo. FYN!!!" (No! Never will we give you our food! It's mine I tell you. MINE!!!) Sirius yelled, or at least tried to. The food in his mouth muffled it out and it became more of a mumble. Essence smiled.

            "Yea well," She grabbed a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans from his hand. "Too bad then."

            All of the girls followed suit and soon they were all munching happily on the many sweets before them. 

            But before they knew it, it was time to change into their robes.

            When the train finally slowed down, it was dark outside. Sirius and James had left the compartment to change their robes, and had gone back to their own compartment.

            When they all had gotten off the train, they heard a voice yelling, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! C'mon, this way. Watch yer step now. Watch yer-Firs' years! Anymore? C'mon."

            They saw to what seemed to be a smaller kind of giant. He looked rather young, probably only in his twenties.

            As they got farther down the steep trail, it yelled over its shoulder, "Yeh all should be seein' Hogwarts righ' 'bout now." Everyone gasped at the castle that loomed up before them. But before the castle, a huge black lake with at least ten boats bobbing up and down on the rippling water.

            "No more'n four to yer boats now!" The half-giant yelled. He all hustled them into boats and somehow James got in a boat with Lily, Essence, and Snape.

            Essence took as seat next to James, adjacent to Snape, who looked rather happy. Well, happy in a psychotic sort of way.

            A very irritated James decided that he would get Snape out of the boat, you know, at least give his hair at least _some_ cleaning. James pushed against the side of Snape's side. Even though he at first decided that he'd do it secretly, decided to give in and do anything to wipe off the happy look on Snape's face. He finally just kicked it.

            Lily, who had been sitting beside Snape, noticed the boat rocking, and when it was about to tip over, she screamed, stood up, and fell over, into James.

            This caused her, James, and Essence to fall out of the boat into the icy cold water of the lake. They all could swim well though, so it wasn't such a big deal.

            "YOU IDIOT! YOU FREAKING BLOODY IDIOTIC IDIOT!"        

            "OH WILL YOU SHUT UP ALREADY?"

            "YOU DUMP US IN A LAKE AND YOU TELL ME TO _SHUT UP_?"

            "YES! THAT'S PRETTY MUCH-" But his voice was cut off because he was sucked under water, then Lily and Essence.

            What felt like tentacles rapped around their legs. They thrashed around, trying to be able to breath. But the tentacles held their grip, unrelenting. The three were starting to get light-headed.

            James grabbed his wand, and almost about to faint, muttered the words of the shrinking spell and waved his wand just like his dad had taught him. The giant thing started to shrink…and was finally as big as a fish…or well a shark.

            The problem with this was that it just meant that the tentacles were smaller. But, the good thing was the thing was surprised, and since the tentacles were now smaller, and could be grabbed, it was easier for the three to untangle themselves.

            Even though they were now free, they had been deprived of oxygen to long, and had by now fainted.

            Above the water, there was madness. How were they going to get out of the water? Why hadn't they come up? Was there a shark in the water like in that one movie? And had that been a spell in the rippling blackness?

            Hagrid seemed worried and gripped an umbrella. Well they couldn't fire him just because he used it to save lives right? He breathed deeply, and muttered a spell. The three kids levitated out of the water, and back into the boat that they had first started in at.

            The boats, which had stopped, had now started, at a faster speed. Once they got to the castle, they all followed the running giant. They were left in a hall, with a rather jumbled woman. She turned from jumbled to trying-but-not-really-getting-there-strict in a split second as the kids started whispering.

            "Quiet!...Please!" She tried. She cleared her throat, mumbled something about how she was definitely going to be retiring soon, and continued. "Welcome, the banquet will begin soon. Before, you will be sorted into houses. The Sorting is important, and the houses that it sorts you in will be like your family all through your seven years at Hogwarts. You will do many things with, and within your house such as go to classes, sleep in a dormitory, and spend time in the common room. Four houses, there are, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. All noble histories, and other such things I'll all tell you in classes, or you will find out. Learn from the older students, most of them are more responsible than they were when they were at 11, _most _of them. It will begin in a few moments…"

            She rushed away and soon returned with an old hat and stool. She led them into the Great Hall, and everyone gasped. It was really a beautiful sight, well if you weren't worried about your best friend dieing of drowning that is.

            As the sorting continued, it turned out that Sirius, Catty, Brook Haven, Remus, William Sensense, and a girl named Galient Ven all got into Gryffindor, and were welcomed wonderfully. The girl they had met before, Arabella, got in Hufflepuff, along with the mousy boy named Peter Pettigrew and a few others.

            Snape had obviously been put in Slytherin, just like Sirius had predicted. Sirius, very uncharacteristically, did not eat much at all. Seeing your best friend unconscious was not something you wanted to eat in after.

            After dinner, all of them were led to their dorm rooms and were asleep by the time they hit the pillow.

            Not Sirius though. He had to stay awake for a few more hours if he was to go see James.

            At about 11:30 he got up out of bed. He didn't change; he had never changed into his other clothes. He had never gotten his trunk. Oh, wait. There it was, at the end of his bed. Oh, well he still never did change.

            He snuck downstairs and opened the portrait hole, careful not make it squeak. His first mission was to _find_ the hospital. As he climbed out of the portrait hole, he listened intently to what sound he half-expected to be there.

            Footsteps.

*          *          * 

            **Well, wasn't that fun? Going through about 13k words just to be cut with a cliffhanger. Okay, so review, even if it contains a death threat. I like death threats! ^_^ *cough* Sorry, anyway, how did you like the chapter? Sorry, this chapter was longer than I expected! I like the long chapters, do you? I just wonder if I should separate the chapters, so there are fewer words. Well, I hope you tell me in the reviews! YAY! Sorry for any mistakes, I at least tried to get it perfect. Well not really, who likes anything exactly perfect? If anything is perfect, it's creepy! Okay, well there you go, the first chapter of my wonderful, beautiful story! Oh, and yay me! I finally figured out how to make the words bold, underlined, and italic! YAY! Anyway, I hope you liked it. Review if you like. Also, if they can have five in a boat in the movie, then they can tip the boat over! And…I think that's about it…yeah. AND WHY ISN'T THIS BOLD?????!!!!! _ **

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_Number of words: 14161_

_Number of Pages: 27_


	2. Stupid Whomping Willow

**Crazy Wizard**

**Chapter 2: Stupid Whomping Willow**

            **NOTE: Hi! How are you? Welcome to the second chapter! Did you know that the last chapter was like…*counts on fingers* 11 words!? Wait…if I counted 11 on my hands…*counts fingers* Ah!! *faints* *wakes up* Wait, never mind, those were my toes that I counted 11…wait…o_o. So…ANYWAY…It was more like 14160 words. I know it says less on ff.net, but it always does that. Okay, so I see you liked the first chapter! Or well, three people did! YAY! Wooo! Go long chapters. Anyway, I'm really proud of my first chapter, and less proud of this one. Now, I would delete the first part if it wasn't 600-something words. Heh, go me! Trashing my own story! That doesn't mean you can do it though *glares* Grrrrr. Beware of the cracker that attacks me. It CAN attack you. So anyway, Sirius is just now sneaking out! Yay!**

**DISCLAIMER: Um…most of the characters aren't mine so…yeah.**

**On to the second chapter! ^_^**

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Sirius ran to a set of medieval suits of armor and hid behind them. The footsteps came closer and Sirius saw who was coming. Filch.

            But Filch walked right on past him, muttering to himself about how he had to put through another year of idiotic pranksters and how he would love to do some…things to them. He used some rather colorful words that I'd rather not mention and I'm sure you'd rather not hear them. 

Sirius was rather happy that soon Filch would be muttering about him.

            After Filch had gone, he got out of his hiding place and went the opposite way that Filch had come, towards the stairs.

            Sirius had no clue where the Hospital Wing was, but he'd be sure to find it. As he reached the landing of the next floor down, he heard a meow come from behind him. He looked up in time to see a cat run around the corner. Sirius had a feeling that this wasn't the best thing.

            He was right, in a few minutes that Sirius had been wandering around, he heard faster footsteps. _Running_ footsteps. His eyes widened as he saw the cat run around the corner and hiss at him.

            Sirius ran around the corner and stood against the wall, listening intently. He realized that he had not made a good decision; he had run into a corridor. It would harder to get a hiding place. As he saw the cat run around the corner, he started running down the corridor.

            He heard from behind him, "Hey! You! STOP!" Sirius ran around the corner into a shorter hall, slightly slipping and almost falling. He ran into the room at the end of the hall and turned around to see the old man. His eyes widened, and he opened the door again and ran as fast as he could. 

            The part of his brain that wasn't thinking about how fun this was, or how his career was just starting, registered that Filch must've taken a shortcut; a secret passage-way.

            He ran down the stairs and when he didn't hear the footsteps anymore, he ran back up the stairs and hid in the shadows right before the stairs. He saw filch come out from behind a painting and look around puzzled.

            Sirius had caught on. When you didn't hear his footsteps, back track. He didn't know how long it was going to take this old guy to catch on to what he had caught onto, but he wasn't going to take chances.

            When he had seen Filch turn the corner, he ran down the stairs and right in front of where Filch had turned. Filch, like Sirius had wanted him to, saw and pursued him. Sirius guessed once he went into his little passageway things, he'd turn out in front of Sirius.

            Right before Sirius planned Filch would jump out at him, he turned and ran into a room. Amazingly he turned, once again, into Filch. Sirius let out an annoyed breath and once again opened the door and ran. But unlike the other time, the man's cat was outside the door.

            Sirius grinned, even though it wasn't really a good thing, as he tripped over the cat, rolling forward and going into action-movie time. He jumped up and ran around the corner, and just like they did in action movies when the guy was running from where a bomb was about to go off, skid around the corner.

            Sirius ran forward, and then turned, then into a room, then out of it, turned back the other way, down the stairs, and so on. Sirius didn't know where he was going, or how he was going to get back to the common room, or where the guy was, but soon he had found the Hospital Wing.

            It was cleaner than the rest of the halls. Sirius went into the only door on the corridor, silently, and looked around. There were three beds that had the curtains pulled. He slid back the curtains on the first bed and closed them. Lily. Not the person he was looking for.

            The next bed held Essence. Wrong again. He slid back the curtains on the third bed and let out a very annoyed breath. Empty. He heard footsteps coming and slid under the bed. It was James and the nurse.

            "But Madam Pinfry! -"

            "Pomfrey-"

            "I didn't have anything to eat! How am I supposed to go on without eating?!" James exclaimed.

            "Be quiet boy! You are not going to eat at midnight! Back to bed!" After guiding him to bed, she went back to the small little office and despite telling James to be quiet, slammed the door closed.

            "Hey! Jamsie!" Sirius whispered, rolling out from under the bed.

            "Sirius!" James whispered leaning out the side of his bed. Sirius was grinning. 

            "Up for a midnight snack?" James grinned and climbed out of bed. They walked almost silently to the door until they were stopped by another voice.

            "You two are _sneaking out_? You could get in _so_ much trouble for that! You could get into detention!" Lily was whispering while walking over two them being careful to duck outside of the office window.

            "That was probably the point Lily." Essence whispered, also getting out of bed.

            "Oh great, now we have to get you two to the Kitchens also!"

            "I don't want to come." Lily said indignantly.

            "Well ok then.  You two can just-"

            "I never said I didn't want to come! Personally I'm starving!"

            "But _Essence_! You could get detention-"

            "I don't care; at least I wouldn't be starving." Essence said as she opened the door. Sirius closed it for her.

            "No! You are _not_ going either."

            "Why not?"

            "Because, your not criminal masterminds like us!" James answered.

            "If criminal masterminds you mean criminally challenged idiots-" Lily started.

            "Well fine, _you_ lead us to the Kitchens!" James said heatedly.

            "Ok, sure. But when we get caught on the way back when you two are leading us, I'm going to say you two kidnapped me." She said, opening the door and striding out. James glared at her.

            "I'd warn you that this guy is-"

            "Well of course someone is patrolling the halls! He must be the caretaker. Hey, what floor is this?" Lily said, looking around.

            "I don't know, I was to busy running from that guy and his cat to count." Sirius said. Lily rolled her eyes and led them down the stairs.

            They didn't explore, just went down the stairs. Sirius warned them of the step on the flight of stairs and they all skipped it.

             When they got on the floor, Lily led them down, away from the two great doors that led to the Great Hall.

            After walking a few minutes, they heard footsteps and slipped into a passageway. But the person seemed to be coming toward the passageway.

            "Sending me out to look for missing kids that are hungry. Stupid Kitchens." He went off muttering a few worse words. Lily smiled and she looked around where they had gone. Nothing but a picture of a bowl of fruit. She pulled at the picture and-It opened!

            They all scrambled in behind the bowl of fruit and out the other side, in a big room. Then the painting opened and they guessed the man peered in. They heard it slam closed, and they all started breathing again.

            "Welcome, to the Kitchen." Lily said.

            House-elves bustled all around them, and offered them everything and many things of this sort and that.

            After they were full, they left, saying goodbye to the little elves. Lily, in turn, didn't lead them this time. Leaving it to the 'criminal masterminds'. As they made their way back the way they had come, and they went up to the second floor, Essence stopped them.

            "Listen." She whispered. They stopped and spun around. There was nothing. They all turned back around and all screamed. A pearly white figure on front of them was floating three feet above the ground.

            Then their hearts sank as they saw the person that was walking toward them, through the ghost.

            "Oh no…" Lily said as she tried to gulp; her mouth was to dry. They were all terrified of both the ghost in front of them (except Sirius for he had seen them at the Sorting) and the person walking toward them. They began to walk backwards.

            "Oh now don't be so afraid. I'm just a ghost! I-" But the ghost with rather girly clothes on was interrupted.

            "Well, I see we have a few students out of bed."

            "Dumbledore! How are you? Oh, yes they are. Dead terrified too. Just look at their faces! Almost as white as mine I'd say." The ghost said.

            The man Dumbledore didn't look at all mean and exactly what Lily thought a wizard was supposed to look like. Long white beard and a sparkle in his eye. He looked just like that one wizard from that movie…

            "Ah, Professor! Yes, ah, we are out of bed. You see, uh, we were hungry; we hadn't had anything to eat! So…Uh, we went out to get some! Um…Yes." Sirius tried hopefully.

            "You had a well fine chance to eat though! You did not have to go to the hospital wing if I'm not mistaken." Dumbledore said.

            "Ah, yes, but I was to…worried for my friend to eat! I had to see how he was doing, and since we were both hungry…" Dumbledore smiled gently.

            "I believe students are not allowed to be wondering the school at night. You all will be getting a detention that will be tomorrow night. I will send you more information by owl tomorrow. Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans, and Ms. Kindle, you three will be sorted in the morning. I believe you feel well enough to go through your classes tomorrow?" He sent them back up to the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey would be waiting for them.

            "Yeah, totally criminal masterminds." Lily muttered.

            Madam Pomfrey sent Sirius up to his common room, giving him directions.

            Sirius followed the directions, taking a few minutes to explore.

            Turns out that the old man, Filch, was still patrolling the halls.

            "YOU!" Sirius spun around and groaned. Caught twice in the same night. How bad at sneaking could he be?

            Filch grabbed him by the arm and led him down flights of stairs, and finally into a small little place with a filing cabinet and desk. Sirius took in what was on the desk and what was in the filing cabinet.

            Sirius leaned against the wall, bored. He barely listened to Filch. Threatening him with detention, disembowelment, and so forth.

            Sirius looked over at the filing cabinet and silently read the things written on tape.

'_Toys' 'Prank plans' 'Confiscated' 'Dangerous' 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous'._

            Sirius grinned. Filch had grabbed his arm again, and started to walk forward. Sirius, even though he knew he'd get a month's worth of detention, at the most, tripped Filch, sending him out the door, and closed and locked it after him.

            He heard Filch fall, get up, and start screaming at the door. Sirius suppressed his laughter, barely, and crossed the room to the filing cabinet. He opened it, and grabbed the first thing his hand came across. He stuffed it in his pocket and swung open the door.

            Filch's face was red, and he threw Sirius out the door and closed it after him.

            Sirius lost his ability to suppress his laughter, and started laughing hard.

            It was a while until he got to his dormitory, and he almost knocked down his friend, Remus. "Where were you?" Remus hissed. They slipped of the room and closed the door.

            "I snuck out to see our dear friend. After dodging the caretaker person, Filch, I got to the Hospital Wing, and we snuck out with Lily and Essence, and on out way back from the Kitchens, we got caught by Dumbledore and got a detention, then I came back but got caught by Filch and then went to an office and tripped him and locked myself in there and then stole this from a cabinet that said _Confiscated and Highly Dangerous_." He pulled out and showed Remus what he had gotten.

            Remus took it. "'Ways to Make Something That Will Get Into The Confiscated and Highly Dangerous Cabinet'? Okay…so how many detentions did you get?"

            "Well, counting on the look on Filch's face lets just say I've probably already broken the detention record." They both laughed and slipped back into the door and into bed.

*          *          *

Essence, Lily, and James were all awoken at 6:30 the next morning. Lily got up when the nurse came in and told them they needed to get ready to be sorted. After shaking her three times, Essence yawned and got up.

            James, on the other hand, had to have Lily finally just push him out of the bed. After trying to be awoken by Essence, Lily, and the both of them, Lily just got tired of it and pushed him.

            "Ow! Why'd you have to do that?" James said, after landing on the hard floor.

            "So you'd get up. Now that you are, we're about to get sorted." Lily said rolling her eyes as James got up off the floor and mumbled. Essence laughed but said nothing.

            It was only a few minutes before a stern looking woman came in, holding a chair and a hat. She sat the stool down.

            "Now, you will be sorted by putting this hat on. You will either be sorted into Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. The other first years in your house, and the others in the upper years, will be like your family for your whole seven years at Hogwarts. I encourage you to be friends with people from other houses though. You will be spending time in your house Common Room. These will be in secret place throughout Hogwarts, so do not tell them to anyone in other houses. You will also have passwords to your Common Rooms. Do not tell these either. You will be sleeping in dormitories.

            "We only have 30 first year students this year, we usually have 40. This means you will only be sleeping with either three or four others. Now, just put the hat on and it will sort you." Lily came up first.

            She sat on the stool and pulled the hat on. It fell well over her eyes, but not to her shoulders. She sat quiet and was surprised when she heard a small voice.

            "So, I see you've plenty of courage. Plenty of smarts too, though. Hmm…RAVENCLAW!" It said the last part so that everyone could hear. She pulled the hat off and gave it to Essence.

            It took less time for the hat to sort Essence. "RAVENCLAW!" Essence and Lily were beaming, and Essence gave the hat to James.

            "Well, plenty of courage. Plenty of arrogance though."

            "_Just as long as I'm not in Slytherin_."

            "Ah, not Slytherin? Well, I see that you shouldn't be in Slytherin after all. GRYFFINDOR!" James took the hat off, grinning. Gryffindor, just as he had wanted.

            "It will be time for breakfast. I believe you remember the way to the Great Hall from your adventure last night?" The woman left with the stool and hat. They all left and made their way to the Great Hall.

            "I wonder what House Catty got into." Lily said as they were walking.

            "Well, I don't think she's gotten into Ravenclaw. I think she'd either get into Gryffindor or Hufflepuff."

            "I hope she hasn't gotten into Gryffindor. Me and Sirius would be tortured by her. And plus, that would mean she'd let you two in to the Common Room and that would mean we'd be tortured for the rest of our time at Hogwarts."

            "Actually, it's Sirius and I, not me and Sirius. I figure that's why you couldn't get into Ravenclaw. Don't even know your Basic English. And what makes you think we'd spend _our_ time torturing _you_?" Lily said.

            "I don't know. What makes you think I'd want to be in Ravenclaw?"

            "How do you know Sirius got into Gryffindor?" Essence asked.

            "Why wouldn't he get into Gryffindor? He's not inept enough to get into Hufflepuff, not smart enough to get in Ravenclaw, or, well, not arrogant enough anyway, and him getting into Slytherin would just be plain funny!" James finished, almost laughing at the thought.

            "Haven't you ever met his family? If they were at Hogwarts, they'd definitely be in Slytherin. I hate his little brother too. I swear. He is the creepiest thing I've ever seen! 'Yes Mum. Yes Mum. Sure Mum. I agree Mum' All the time! He's like her little drone!"

            James seemed taken aback. The truth was he _hadn't_ ever met his best friend's family. He didn't even know Sirius _had_ a brother!

            "Well how do you know so much about him? What are you, his stalker?"

            "No, my stepmum and his dad work as 1st and 2nd to your father. My stepmum invited them over once, when I was like eight or something. Eck, coldest people I've ever seen. They were as bad as the Malfoys even. Well, okay. So Sirius wasn't, but his brother, mum, and dad were. But, my dad didn't like them, so I haven't seen them since then." She finished. By now, they had stopped walking and were all in a circle. 

            "Sirius doesn't mention his family that much. He didn't mention he had met you either."

            "Why is it so important that he's met me before?"

            "I don't know. It just seems you know a lot about him and what he's thinking."

            "How did you get that I know what he's thinking?"

            "Because, you just happen to 'guess' what we're going to do, or want or what happened. Like on the train for example. And last night, you knew that the only reason Sirius snuck out was to get detention."

            "If you're accusing me of having weird, freaky mind-reading powers, I don't. I wouldn't know what color you were thinking of if you thought one. I can't guess the right number, or anything. I'm just smart."

            "I didn't say me. I said _Sirius_. You don't know a lot about _me_. Only _Sirius_."

            "So? Maybe he's easier to read."

            "So you read people? So am I a hardback book? Or is Sirius just paperback?"

            "_No_. I don't read people like books. I-"

            "Well then how do you know everything?"

            "Well how do you know I know everything!? Maybe I'm just smarter than _you_!" Essence finished yelling, and stormed off, down the stairs. Lily and James looked after he in surprise.

            "Um…Okay then! Off to breakfast!" Lily said, running to catch up with Essence. James looked after them with narrowed eyes. If she had weird, freaky mind-reading powers, she was not going to read Sirius' mind.

            "James! Over here!" Sirius yelled, waving his arms. James ran over to him, and sat next to him, in front of Remus.

            "'Lo James." Remus said.

            "'Lo Remus, Sirius."

            "'Lo James. So, obviously you got into Gryffindor."

            "Yup."

            "That's great! 'Course I knew you were going to anyway. You _are_ Gryffindor's descendant so of course you'd get into Gryffindor!"

            "Hey Sirius, you never mention your family to us." Sirius looked at James with a blank look.

            "Yeah…So?"

            "I never knew you had a brother. I just wondered why you never told us anything."

            "How do you know I have a brother?"

            "Essence."

            "Essence? Oh, yeah, Ravenclaw. How would she know?"

            "'Cause, you went over to her house when you were eight or whatever, and your family came. She said they were really cold and dark."

            "Well who said she wasn't lying?" James looked at his best friend who had his arms crossed.

            "Well obviously you. You won't tell us anything! And you got mad when I started telling you, so obviously it's true!"

            "Who said it was any of your business if my family is dark or not?" Sirius said, indignantly.

            "Well, let's see! Maybe being your best friend would give me a right to know about your life!"

            "Well you don't have to know everything!" At this point they had both jumped up and were almost yelling.

            "Well I at least have to know _something_! I'd rather not have a total stranger tell me about my bets friend!" James was yelling by now and most of the students had turned to look at the two. Professor Wech was running towards them.

            "Well you never told me you wanted to know everything about me! I'm sorry, maybe I should just get mind-reading powers so I can know what you're thinking!" Over at the Ravenclaw table, Essence had been biting her lip. She didn't mean to get two best friends yelling at each other.

            "Oh that's funny! Why don't you just use Essence over there! Oh, wait! She can't read _my_ mind, only yours!"

            "What does that have to do with anything!? And what are you talking about!?"

            "Boys! Boys! Settle down!" Professor Wech had finally reached them and was looking at them sternly. They both sat down, glaring at each other. "Right. Now I'd rather not have to pull you two from another yelling match!" He now waddled back over to the other Professors.

            "Oh _no_! I did _not _mean to do that!" Essence said, looking over at Lily.

            "Hey! Essence! Lily! Hi!" Catty had walked over from the Gryffindor table and now sat down beside Essence. "You didn't mean to do what?" She said, grabbing a piece of bacon.

            "I didn't mean to get James and Sirius yelling at each other!"

            "Oh don't worry, it'll blow over. Anyway, I unfortunately got into Gryffindor. Arable got into Hufflepuff. The other two in your house, the girls, are Shanty and Erin. The-"

            "Actually, it's Shaleint. You know, like 'shal', then 'e', then 'ent'. Kind of sounds like talent. Oh, yes, and this is Erin."

            "Riiight. Shalent. Got it. I'm Catty. This is Essence, the fighter-starter. And this is Lily, the arguing-lover."

            "Catty!" Essence and Lily said at the same time. Catty just shrugged.

            "Anyway, hello." Lily said. The other sat down in front of them and they began talking about things.

            Soon their schedules were passed out and breakfast was over.

            "Hey look! Double Charms, Transfiguration, then lunch, History of Magic, and then double Potions. You have Charms and Transfiguration with us, then Potions with Hufflepuff. They can give us double stuff? Really? How long is one class? Thirty minutes right? Okay, well that's three hours of school! I used to have to go to school for _seven_ hours!"

            "Well really, you're _in_ school all the time. See, the castle _is_ the school. And I think they're an hour each. That'd be six hours."

            "Well you guys, look at the times of the classes." Lily and Catty looked blankly at Essence, then to their schedules.

            "Oh…Yeah. Right. So they're…45 minutes then. Right. So…that's…Uh…" Catty finished looking up and waving her finger around the room.

            "That's _four_ hours and _thirty_ minutes. Oh my gosh! Did I get it right? Did I? I _always_ failed in math. Well and English. Okay so maybe Social Studies too. Oh, wow. I really _was_ a bad student. Huh." Catty finished shrugging her shoulders and looking around. Lily, Essence, Erin, and Shaleint were all laughing.

            But soon enough it was time to go to Charms.

            "Right, well now how do we get there Lily?"

            "How would I know?"

            "Okay, fine. How do we get there _Essence_." Essence looked over at Catty.

            "How would I know?"

            "You were the ones who snuck out last night right? That means you must of past the room!"

            "Actually, we didn't explore. We went straight down the stairs and into the kitchen. They really should put a password on that thing though. It would be so easy for someone to poison the whole school!" Essence finished waving her arms around and they all laughed.

            "Okay, so -"

            "Soooo, Kindle. Planning on poisoning the whole school?" Essence turned around and found herself looking at Malfoy.

            "I don't get it Malfoy. I'm, what, three years younger than you and you have to pick on me? What is it? Scared of the bigger people? Or am I just _special_. Oh, and to your question, no. I'm not. But I suppose I won't be able to eat anymore. I'm sure your planning on how to poison me right now." Essence rolled her eyes and walked away.

            "How can you be...uh..._special_, was it?, if you hang out with filthy _Mudbloods_?"

            "Hey, Malfoy! At least pick on someone who's not a girl!" 

            "Oh great. Locomotor Idiots." Lily muttered.

            Malfoy looked behind him and then turned. "Seems you've lost your mate Black." It was true. Sirius was standing there, no James by his side. Oh well, no James by his side _yet_.

            Just after Malfoy finished talking, James jumped out from behind the girls. But then he slipped, or tripped on his own feet (maybe a combination of the two), and flew into Sirius.

            "Ack! James!" James rolled off Sirius and jumped up. He grabbed Sirius' hand and pulled him up too.

            "And you tell me that _I'm _inept to walk on two feet." Sirius muttered.

            "I wasn't walking though. I _jumped_. Get your verbs right mate! Oh, right. Malfoy. Wait, where'd he go?" At the question, Catty let out a laugh.

            "He practically ran away. I think James here scared him. Probably thought James would jump on _him_ next."

            "I didn't jump on Sirius! I _tripped_ on Sirius! See, _jumping_ on Sirius would be like-"

            "No! No way are you jumping on me James! Come on, we'll be late to class."

            "Right then." The girls looked at each other, shrugged, and decided to follow them.

            Essence, though, ran ahead to Sirius. James was talking to Lily and Catty about Quidditch…Okay, Quidditch and Brooms.

            "You know, I can do as much damage to Malfoy as you can." Sirius looked over at her.

            "What?"

            "You said, and I quote, 'At least pick on someone who's not a girl'."

            "Awww, I'm so touched that you take to heart what I say!"

            "Mmhm, anyway I've got to ask you something. Okay, do you stalk _Malfoy_ or _me_? Because whenever he gets close to me and Lily and them you and James happen to show up." Sirius got a thoughtful look on his face.

            "Hmmm. Well, I happen to have special mind-reading powers so I can tell when Malfoy is going to…attack." She laughed and looked over at Sirius.

            "Oh really, special mind-reading powers? Then what color am I thinking of right now?"

            "But that would _not_ be fair! You have to read _my_ mind too!"

            "Sorry but I don't…_embrace_ my special mind-reading powers." Sirius laughed and shook his head.

            "Well why don't you just have a try at it! Okay, one…two…-"

            "I need time to focus though! Okay, let's see. Three!"

            "Green!" They said it at the exact same time and stopped walking. They both looked surprised and disturbed.

            "Oh…Well yeah. I was thinking green." Sirius said, starting to walk again.

            "Me too."

            "Well…My special mind-reading powers are better than yours." Essence let out a hurtful gasp.

            "How…I…It…Oh my gosh. I just am so hurt." She said in a fake hurt voice.

            "Oh, well," Sirius sniffed, as though he was crying. "Don't ever do the overly dramatic thing. That's _mine_." He said and walked into a room.

            "Hmph, better special mind-reading powers than me. _Please_." Essence muttered, following him.

            It turned out that they had been the first ones there. Others came in over the next 5 minutes, but some didn't get there until the class had been going on for about 20 minutes.

            "Now. Charms is a class where you will learn many things! Incantations, spells. You will learn to levitate things, unlock things, and many more! But before we learn those, we need to learn the correct wrist movements for spells! Swish and Flick! Swish and Flick! Now, will everyone please practice themselves?" Their Professor, Xylem, said.

            Lily, Essence, and Catty had all been sitting together and amazingly in front of James, Sirius, and Remus. I don't believe I have to tell you this was bad.

            "Okay, so swishing and flicking. Let's see…" Sirius swished his wand, and then flicked James. "So am I done?"

            "Sirius!" James flicked him back, and then hit him while he was supposedly 'flicking his wand'.

            Soon Sirius and James were using the wands as swords, and battling in a sword fight fuelled by the little guy in the painting behind them. Supposedly his name was 'Sir Cadogan'.

            Of course, worst was to come of it if it was Sirius and James. And it did! When ever Sirius and James wands collided, a sparks flew. But…

            "Mwahaha! I'm winning Sirius!"

            "No you aren't Jamsie!" Clash.

            "Sure I," Clash, "am!"

            "No," Clash. "I don't think" Clash, "so!" Clash, scream.

            A shot of light had come out of Sirius' wand and hat cut off half of Essence's waist-length hair. It now only fell to a little past her shoulders.

            "Ahh! You idiots! That took me 11 years to grow! And look, my robes!" Professor Xylem hurried over.

            "What happened here?" He asked looking from the hair in Essence's chair, Essence, Sirius, and James.

            "Uh…Well Professor, you see-"

            "They were using their wands as swords and had a sword fight because of this idiotic little knight right there and for some reason this spell came out of Sirius' wand and ruined my hair! And robes! And I think I have a cut on my back…" It was true. Red was starting to appear through the white shirt under her robes.

            "Ah, Essence. So sorry! Really, I-" But her hand shot out, grabbed his wrist, and twisted it. Consequently they heard a sickening crack that told them Essence had definitely hurt Sirius' wrist.

            "Next time don't use your wands as swords!" She said coldly.

            Xylem sent both Essence and Sirius to the Hospital Wing.

            Once they were out of the classroom… "Why the hell did you have to break my wrist!" Sirius said, stopping her.

            "Because! You cut my back, cut my robes and my shirt, and ruined my hair!"

            "And why is your hair _so_ important!?"

            "Because! I took me 11 years to grow it that long! I've never cut it! Once! And plus, I promised to my mum that I'd have long hair, just like hers. Really that's the only thing I remember about her. Come on, my back's starting to sting."

            Why are you two back again? You just left this morning!" The nurse said as they entered.

            "I accidentally cut her and she broke my wrist…or sprained it or something. Anyway, it really hurts." The nurse fixed Essence's cuts, including her robes and all, and Sirius' sprained wrist.

            "Okay, so is that all?" The two nodded and sent them off to their next class.

            "Why didn't you get her to make your hair longer?" Sirius asked, as they were trying to find the Transfiguration room.

            "That doesn't count as growing it yourself. Ah, I think this is the room…" She said but as she opened the door, and she and Sirius peered in, Sirius shook his head and closed the door.

            "Nope, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Oh, let's see…if it's supposed to be there that means if we just go right there then over there…Okay, I know where it is."

            As Essence followed his, she took a band from her pocket and put her hair up. It was rather messy, and it was short.

            "Professor! Sorry we're late. We went to the hospital wing, here's the note from Madam Pomfrey…" Professor Katshil read over the note.

            "Well, your seats will be right there. Get out your books and read from pages 1 to 17; the introductory chapter."

            "Right then." Sirius said and sat down at the very front of the room, next to James and Essence.

            "See," Sirius whispered to James, pointing behind him. "Remus has got the right idea. Keep in the back of the classes."

            "No, Remus hasn't got the right idea. If you sit in the back, you can't see or here anything, therefore you get a bad grade." Essence whispered.

            "But that's better than having points taken from your house."

            "Yeah, but the only reason the teacher would take points from your house was because you're talking. And, like in Potions, they might take off points if it isn't right. And that would be because you were sitting in the back and couldn't follow directions right even if you wanted to." Essence interjected. Both James and Sirius looked over at her.

            "Well then maybe the Professor should write the directions on the board bigger eh?" Sirius raised his eyebrows, smiled, and opened his book. Essence rolled her eyes and started reading.

            "Or, they'll take off points for the student being annoying."

            "Please tell me you are going to be annoying so house points will be taken off." There was no hint of sarcasm in Essence's voice.

            "Mr. Black! Mr. Potter! Ms. Kindle! Would you be so kind enough to be quiet?"

            "Oh, yes, of course Professor. I was just asking him a question about the reading." James looked over at Sirius.

            "But I didn't know what the answer to his question was so we were discussing it."

            "Well I'd rather you not discuss things anymore in my class."

            Silence.

            "Well we still didn't come up with an answer." James finally said.

            "Yes, we were debating over which answer was right, and then realized that none of our answers could be correct."

            "Well what is the question?"

            "Well really it was two."

            "Right, first it was this one question that we couldn't get, then _that_ question led onto this _other_ question and we still haven't come up with an answer for the _first_ question!"

            "Yes we did, it was my answer. You remember don't you?" James looked over at Sirius.

            "I'd remember if you weren't so conceited. Now getting back-"

            "Yes, getting back to it Professor. We still haven't come up with an answer! To question one, two, three, _or_ four!"

            "I thought we had seven Sirius."

            "Right! We still haven't come up with an answer to question one, two, three, four, five, six, or seven!"

            "Then what were the questions?" Their Professor said sternly.

            "Well the first question was," He cleared his throat, "What is the dictionary definition of Transformation?" James said.

            "Then, if you look at Chapter Two, you'll see that it's only a page long! Why?"

            "And then, here, on page 176-"

            "Please! We do not need to know the definition of Transformation, nor why chapters are short, nor _anything_ on page _1-7-6_! Ten points will be taken off because of the two of you! Now please, back to your reading! And on the _right_ pages if you will!" The two boys nodded and actually started reading this time.

            "Thank you. That puts Ravenclaw in the lead. Good work you two!" Essence whispered happily and patted Sirius on the back.

            "Sure, as long as you don't go psycho and break my wrist again." Essence just smiled and went back to her reading. _'Okay, so page two...'_

            Much before Sirius or Essence or even James was done reading, it was time to go to lunch. Well, really, a few other people didn't finish as well. The print was tiny, and because it being so small, it seemed like they were reading a book! James got to page seven, Sirius to page eleven, Essence to the last sentence of page eleven, Catty to page fourteen, same as Remus, and Lily to page 23.

            At lunch, Catty came over to sit with Essence and Lily. So did Erin and Shaleint. Shaleint, though, did not get to eat all that much for she was trying to get Catty to say her name right. Finally she just gave up and let catty call her 'Shally'.

            "Right then! I can't believe Sirius and James made us lose ten points!" Catty exclaimed.

            "You shouldn't care about the house Cup and all. That would just separate us further. If the teams that are first and second are Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, then we will start fighting and our friendship will dissipate." Sirius, who had just walked over, along with James, finished.

            "See, I told you my S.M.R.P. are better than yours." Catty looked at Sirius who had sat down next to her, in front of Essence.

            "But you don't have any friends in Ravenclaw Sirius." Essence said dryly. Sirius just waved it off.

            "S.M .R.P? What's that?" Catty asked, already confused.

            "Special mind-reading powers I would guess." Essence said between bites of food.

            "See, you were going to say that stuff about the houses, but I read-"

            "Hi Essence, Lily, Catty, Sirius, James, and you other two." Arabella said as she flopped down in a seat next to Catty.

            "Hi Arabella! Which classes did you have?" Lily asked.

            "Eck. We had Double Transfiguration and Charms. And we had them with Slytherin. I swear. They are the _worst_. Which classes do you have next? We have…held on…" she took out her schedules and looked at it happily. "We have History of Magic with Gryffindor, then Double Defense Against the Dark Arts with Ravenclaw."

            Sirius groaned. "Look James! We have Potions with Slytherin! Everyone says that Professor Wech favors them. And then Defense Against the dark Arts with them! Great! The only class I wouldn't skip I have to spend it with grease-ball boy." 

            "No, we have History of Magic and then Double Potions. I hate doing potions anyway; maybe we can just skip class. You know, say we got lost."

            "I like making potions." Essence said, finally getting into the conversation.

            "You're the only one." James said. Essence got up.

            "I'm going to go to the Library. 'Bye!" She said happily, and walked out of the Great Hall.

            "Guess talking about schedules isn't her cup of tea." James said, shrugging.

            "No, she would rather spend time in a place that's quiet." Sirius said, nodding. "It's my special mind-reading powers." James pushed him and he fell to the floor.

            James shrugged. "Huh. Guess you don't have mind-reading powers after all."

            "Special mind-reading powers! _Special_!!" Sirius called after him as he walked to the Gryffindor table.

            So after going through about two more hours of classes, and getting assigned a pile of homework, James, Sirius, and Remus reached the Great Hall.

            "So I'm thinking, if we-" But Remus stopped short when he saw two owls flying towards them. They stopped in front of James and Sirius. Remus could see that two owls had also flown to Essence and Lily.

            **Your detention will take place at ****midnight**** tonight. Meet Mr. Filch in the entrance hall.**

**                        Professor M. Katshil**

            "Midnight? How are we supposed to get enough sleep?" Sirius said. Remus just shrugged.

            "Do you know what this means though? We aren't going to have a regular detention, I'll tell you."

            "Why do you think that?" Sirius asked, between and only looking half-interested.

            "Because, if we meet at the entrance hall that means we're going outside!" He looked back at the note and snorted. "_Mr._ Filch."

            Over at the Ravenclaw table, Lily was looking at the note she had gotten from the owl.

            "Midnight. _Midnight__!_ I'm not going to get any sleep then!"

            "Then you better go up right now. Hey, where is Essence? Did she ever come back from Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

            But right then Essence ran in and fell into a seat next to Lily. "Hi!" She said, breathless.

            "Where were you?"

            "Doing some things." They looked at her suspiciously.

            "Well, we're having detention tonight. Midnight."

            "Oh, good."

            "Good?" Lily said incredulously.

            "Uh…I mean great. Or bad. Or whatever." Essence shrugged it off and began eating.

            At midnight, Lily and Essence walked down to the entrance hall. Filch was there, but there was no sign of the boys.

            After a few minutes, Filch said, "Well obviously-" But he stopped for he heard a great crash. James and Sirius suddenly walked around the corner, whistling.

            "Oh come on, stop trying to get detention!" Essence said and opened the door and stepped into the night air.

            They made their way over to a small hut on the edge of a forest. The giant that had greeted them when they had first arrived was waiting there for them.

            "You'll be spending you detention with Hagrid. In the Forest." He was grinning.

            "I wonder how many people get to go into a forest with evil things for detention." James said happily.

            "Oh, I just wish there's a lot more." Filch said.

            "Righ' then. The Willow Dumbledore planted needs some things tha' have to be found in the wild. The plant is a shimmering purple. Don' touch it; it'll melt your hands. A bi' acidic it is."

            He handed them what looked liked gloves and a heavy bag.

            Filch grinned nastily and went away, back up to the castle.

            "I like detention!" Sirius said happily. Hagrid let out a sort of a disbelieving snort.

            When they entered the forest, it was pitch black except for Hagrid's lantern. James and Sirius lit their wands, then Essence and Lily. They decided to split up. Sirius and James, then Essence and Lily, and Hagrid by himself.

            James and Sirius looked for the plant, vigorously, for a maximum of two minutes before exploring.

            Lily was looking warily about the ground for the purple plant. Essence was sitting on a tree stump and looked around.

            "Look!" Lily said, pulling Essence up from her seat and pointing out what seemed to be black shaped moving.

            "Maybe they're evil swarms of butterflies that want to eat the giant squid but are angered because they can't because they can't get to close to the water without drowning." Lily looked at her, confused. Essence shrugged and dragged Lily over to the black shapes.

            "Oh evil butterflies!" Essence yelled. The two shapes looked up. "Okay, let me read their minds and see if they're evil. Wait, hold on. They don't have brains. Must be Sirius and James."

            They reached the shapes and they did in fact turn out to be James and Sirius.

            "Evil butterflies?" James asked. Essence just nodded.

            "Anyway, have you two found any purple plants?" Lily asked, looking around.

            "No, but we found this green one!" Sirius said. Lily rolled her eyes and brushed a few leaves that were on some shimmering plant with her grab-thing.

            "Oh…" James shrugged as Lily picked it up with the grabber and put it in her bag. "Okay, but how do we get back to Hagerd?"

            "It's Hagrid. And I have no clue." Lily said, looking around.

            "Well you have special mind-reading powers Sirius, why don't you just read his mind and find out where he is." Essence said.

            "Ok, will I ever go through a day without listening to someone talking about special mind-reading powers?" Lily said, annoyed. "Now come on."

            They followed Lily through the forest. After about thirty minutes of searching, James got annoyed.

            "Oh come _on_. Can we just leave the forest? You know, leave him to come back when he finds another little plant thing."

            "One problem. Which way is where we came in?" Sirius said and looked around. Lily pointed one way, while the two boys insisted on going another.

            "Oh come off it!" Essence finally said and let out an ear-splitting scream. The other three put their hands over their ears and looked at her when she was done.

            "What was-?"

            "What's wrong!? Why're ya screamin'?" Hagrid said suddenly, and angrily. James, Sirius, and Lily looked up, surprised.

            "We got one." She said, and handed the bag to Hagrid as the other three watched her incredulously.

            "So can we leave yet?" Lily said. The forest was giving her the creeps; she felt like she was being watched.

            "Uh…" Hagrid looked around the dark forest and suddenly he looked nervous.

            "Um…You…You _do_ now how to get out…right?" Hagrid looked at Lily and, again, around.

            "Well, I only know the part of the forest by the trees." He said.

            "And I'm guessing this isn't the part of the forest by the trees?" Sirius said, groaning."

            "But Sirius! This will give us time to explore-"

            "I'd rather explore and then get out alive!" Sirius snapped.

            "Why don't we just use a compass or something?"

            "Well that's an easy question. It wouldn't work! The magic around Hogwarts would mess it up by far. And, there is dark magic, also, that would mess the reading up." Essence said.

            "And what are you? Knower-of-everything?" Sirius said, annoyed.

            "No, but I have at least half a brain." Sirius rolled his eyes.

            "Of course you do. How else could I read it? And what an _old_ comeback."

            "Will you please stop talking about those idiotic mind-reading powers? Neither of you have them, and neither of you ever will!" Obviously Lily had gotten fed up with the talk of the special mind-reading powers.

            "Right. So how do we get out of this forest?"

            "Well…we _could-_" But Sirius stopped abruptly, at the sound of howling.

            "There are _were-wolves_ in this forest? And we are allowed to do detention in here? Oh my God!"

            "Oh pipe down Evans! We're trying to find a way to get out!"

            "Well…we could ask the animals and things." Essence suggested. Even as she said it, it seemed that glowing yellow eyes seemed to peek down from the trees and watch them.

            "If we ask them, they'll just point us in the opposite direction." Hagrid said dryly.

            "Then we just take the opposite direction they give us."

            "Well, you _see_-" But the distinct sound of hooves cut Hagrid off. Lily, James, and Sirius' eyes widened out of fear and Essence's out of curiosity. But before they saw what the hooves brought with them, or before Hagrid could tell them it was a centaur, they screamed (save Essence) and were all running away (Lily dragging Essence behind her).

            But as they ran, they knew that where they were going was worse than with Hagrid. Hagrid had lost them, and it was getting steadily darker.

            "Oh-just-STOP!" Essence yelled, finally being able to wrench her hand from Lily's grasp. "We're going the wrong way!"

            "Yeah well it's better than with whatever that thing was!"

            "No it wasn't! We're farther away, and we don't know any magic, save that stupid shrinking spell, and- What are you doing?" James was climbing up the nearest tree, or at least attempting to.

            "If I can see over the tops, I'll know which direction we need to go." He finally stumbled up the branches out of their sight. But within a few seconds he came crashing down. Before he hit the ground, he grabbed a tree branch with groaned and almost broke. He let go and fell to the ground lightly, on his two feet.

            "I think I stepped in a nest or something…A bird attacked me and I lost balance. But we do need to go _that_ way." He pointed to his left. They all shrugged and decided to go ahead and give it a try.

            After what had seemed many minutes, it became less dark and they could even see golden rays peeking out from the leaves. They soon stepped away from the forest's trees and onto the patch of grass behind Hagrid's hut. He was there, pacing back and forth and his face immediately lit up when he saw them.

            "You're alive!" The four looked at each other.

            "Did you believe that we were dead?" Hagrid looked uncomfortable.

            "Well…I jus' didn' know where ya were." He let them go back to the school, and they found out, startled, that it was 5:30 in the morning. They also found out how tired they were, and groaned thinking about the day ahead them.

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**            Hi! How did you like it? I apologize for the length of this chapter. It was only about 8k words, but that makes it 22k words and that means as long as I can make it 11k words, it…uh…will be good. o_0 Yeah. Anyway, That _also_ means that by chapter 9 my story will be 100k words! ^_^ YAY! Anyway, I think I liked the last chapter better…Anyway, soon Essence will go bye-bye and then I can focus on other people! No, she won't die. She's going to…take a break from being such a spotlight. Also, did you know how hard to describe the little pictures in my head? Yea…Okay, yay! I'm at the end of chapter 2! Wooo! Well…um…please review!**

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_Number of words: 8,325_

_Number of pages: 17_


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